Catching another updraft I let my wings fill with air as I shot higher in the dusky sky, keeping my gaze firmly rooted on the ground bellow as I tracked the two groups I was intent on protecting. Team DENM as they had called themselves were definitely better prepared for the grim they found along the way, so my main focus was team JNPR as well as my nieces. Flying just a bit faster I crossed the small gap between the two groups casting a quick look over the elusive Spring maiden and her team members before circling back to team JNPR again.
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Dove pov
The number of grims we had been seeing had slowly been increasing, to the point that it was beginning to be difficult to find a safe place to sleep. Sleeping in shifts would only work for so long, before everyone was tired and grumpy. I could feel the continuous drain on my energy reserves, as the happy high we had been riding before started to ebb. I was reluctant to say anything, as the last people I had mentioned the mood to got arsy and kick me out of their group. Shifting uncomfortably I fought the wave of vertigo that griped me, breathing slowly I stared at a single spot on the ground, willing the rest of the world to stop spinning. After a few minutes the feeling passed and I continued walking, having to jog a bit to catch up as the group hadn't stopped to wait for me.
Settling back into stride next to Mercury I was shocked when he spoke harshly, "stop dawdling we don't have all day. We need to make some progress, and you're slowing us down!"
"Yeah, what the hell is wrong with you? You're not normally like this!" Emerald looked marginally more concerned than Mercury but even she still looked pissed.
Grimacing I said "I draw my energy from happiness. There isn't really much cause for happiness about now so I'm running a bit low on energy alright, I'll be fine."
"Can you fly faster than you can walk?"
"Uh probably."
"Do it! We need to get moving."
Swallowing I fought back the hurt I was feeling rationalising it as them all being tired and miserable. Morphing took a lot out of me and as I struggled into the sky I knew, I knew this was a stupid idea.
An hour later I could barely flap my wings and the wind had picked up, so it was increasingly hard to fly straight. Rain started to fall and I could feel the slow drop in temperature, I kept searching trying to make out Emerald's bright mint coloured hair, or Mercury's reflective locks. However in the quickly disappearing light and the reduced visibility from the rain, I was struggling to see anything. So I wasn't hugely surprised when a tree the size of a small building somehow snuck up on me. Swivelling my wings and flapping madly I tried to avoid the collision, but I just didn't have the energy to manoeuvre fast enough, and I slammed into the tree. Hard. Everything went black.
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Mercury pov
Trudging through the woods we were all grumpy and tired and frankly I was getting to the end of my normally short patients with the number of grim we had been fighting lately. I knew the negative emotions were drawing them but it was hard to be happy. Dove caught up and slowed back to a walk beside me, I could see her chest heaving slightly implying she was out of breath and probably more tired than we were. she had been keeping her hood up lately and it was starting to bug me. needing to let of some steam I spoke up "stop dawdling we don't have all day. We need to make some progress, and you're slowing us down!" it came out harsher than I meant it to but she needed to keep up, I didn't want her getting left behind and hurt.
Emerald chimed in with "Yeah, what the hell is wrong with you? You're not normally like this!"
Peering down at her I caught the brief flicker of a grimace before she spoke "I draw my energy from happiness. There isn't really much cause for happiness about now so I'm running a bit low on energy alright, I'll be fine."
Not believing for a second that she would be 'fine' I decided we needed to hurry so we could get to the next nearest town and rest up. "Can you fly faster than you can walk?"
"Uh probably."
"Do it! We need to get moving."
She seemed to really struggle to get into the air and I frowned slightly a small nagging voice inside said this was a very bad idea.
An hour later the wind had picked up and I couldn't see Dove any where. The sky was quickly darkening and as it started to rain I thought I caught a glimpse of white heading away from us, before it was swallowed by the dark clouds.
"Shit! DOVE!"
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Neo pov
Bouncing along I was probably the most cheerful of the group, although I was still irritated. Like jeez these stupid grim just kept on coming, it was beyond tedious and I was getting royally pissed off. Kicking a small twig on the ground, I let out a silent yelp when I found the twig was actually a root, and quite solidly entrenched in the ground causing me to trip. Flailing my arms I managed to grab a tree branch to stop my self falling. Stopping to eye the branch I thought for a moment on how perfect it would be to lynch Roman on. sighing wistfully I continued walking, it wouldn't do to dwell on dreams.
Pausing again this time to peer up at the black cloud filled sky and getting an eyeful of rain for my trouble I grumbled to my self, poor Dove. We were too hard on her, and now she could be gone and it would be all our fault. I was about to put my parasol down and give up trying not to get wet since my boots were already filthy and the rest of me wasn't much better, maybe the would wash of some of the dirt, when I saw it. Laying in the mud at the base of a huge tree was two large white lumps.
Walking closer I could make out scattered feathers and there was quite a few and then I could make out patches of pale green in the mud. Gasping I ran towards the prone form of none other than Dove. 'oh shit oh shit oh shit' was all I could think, as I took in the clearly wounded figure before me. Her arm was bent at an awkward angle suggesting it had been broken, and there wasn't a single patch on her that didn't have some mud or blood smeared on her.
Carefully I rolled her onto her back, as I did her hood fell back and I saw why she had been hiding her face from us. Beneath her eyes were deep purple shadows and her features were pale and gaunt beneath the mud covering half her face. Turning my head I saw Mercury and Emerald hadn't seen me yet, huffing and squeaking as loud as I could I tried to catch their attention. However being mute really sucked sometimes as they both continued to trudge along looking like someone had peed in their cornflakes, completely oblivious. Scowling I closed my parasol and hurled it like a javelin at the two idiots, it landing quivering in the tree just in front of Mercury's face. When he turned to look at me, I waved my arms frantically gesturing at the pale limp form in my lap.
"Crap!" jogging over he took one look and Dove and swore very violently, and proceeded to call himself a number of rude things before bending down and scooping up the limp form of their friend. We hurried almost running most of the last 30 minutes to the nearest town.
When we got there we immediately searched out a healer and demanded she get to work fixing our friend. We may have threatened her a bit, but honestly I don't think we were very scary what with all of us being soaking wet and muddy. An hour later we were still sat in the waiting area of the small healers hut, Mercury was pacing, Emerald was sharpening her blades and I was doing my best to get the mud out of my white boots.
The door creaked as the healer opened it "your friend will recover just fine, although her aura seems to be replenishing much faster than I expected. It is a joy to have such rewarding work, to see the benefits of your efforts...oh I'm sorry I just get so carried away some times. It is lovely to see young ones so concerned for a friend, more young people should be so caring." The little old lady sighed and shuffled about a bit before she pointed at the door and said "you can all head right in, just don't make to much noise."
The mad dash we all made for the healing room made the healer laugh but the sound cut of when he door shut behind us. Pausing we all stared at Dove, she looked so pale and small. Almost child like, bouncing forwards I leaned close to her face studying her features. I was so close my nose was almost touching hers, pressing forwards just a touch more, I squished my nose against hers.
Squeaking and flying back in shock, I stood slowly and returned to the bed to see Doves eyes wide open and dazed looking, as she searched the room for something. When we locked gazes she seemed to relax slightly and a soft smile flitted across her face, "h..hey.." her voice was scratchy, and she barley got one word out before she dissolved into a heavy coughing fit.
Patting her arm I pressed finger against her lips and shook my head, before settling on the edge of the bed and starting on brushing the quickly drying mud of her clothes and skin. Emerald joined me a minute later settling next to Dove's head and putting lots of tiny braids in her hair, even going so far as to remove one of the gold beads from her bracelet and adding it to one of the braids. Mercury took a second longer before he too joined our little group and as he settled on the other side of the bed he started smoothing down the ruffled feathers on Dove's wings, straightening and cleaning the dirt from the multi coloured appendages.
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Dove pov
I could feel breath fanning my face. Cracking one eye open Jerked in surprise, there was a set of pink and brown eyes staring right at me. apparently Neo was surprised by my sudden awakening and she let out quite possible the cutest squeak and flew back landing on her butt. I watched as she scrambled to her feet, and made her back over to the bed I was laying on.
I felt like I was missing something so my gaze raked over the room searching for something, when my gaze landed on Mercury and his tortured expression, I felt something that had been wound tight relax ever so slightly. Returning my gaze to Neo I relaxed physically, sagging slightly on the bed. smiling slightly i tried to speak "h..hey.." but I was interrupted by a vicious coughing fit.
Pressure on my arm drew my attention to Neo who was patting my arm, when she had my attention she pressed her finger against my lips and shook her head, and then she sat down next to me on the bed and started trying to brush the mud of my cloths and skin. Lost cause if you ask me, but I appreciated the effort. I was so absorbed in watching Neo I was startled when I felt a soft pulling on my hair, peering up I was just able to see Emerald sat next to my head braiding my hair. I was content to allow the girls to apologise for their snappishness from before in this way but finial my anxiety won out and I looked over at Mercury. He had an almost tortured expression on his face as he approach slowly, and sat down on the other side of the bed from the girls and started smoothing down my feathers. I found it ironic that he was hoping to smooth the ruffled feathers he had caused with his harsh words, by literally smoothing my ruffled feathers.