They had been flying for the last couple hours, and Turtle knew that they were nearing the Sky Kingdom soon. The cold night air was smacking him in the snout and he could feel cold shivers running through his scales with every second that passed. He assumed everyone else felt about the same though, so he didn't complain about it either.

He couldn't help but feel a trickle of guilt course along his scales whenever he thought about the fact that he was going to wait to heal Umber until Flame was out of the room. Like, waiting to heal your friend who has life threatening injuries just because you didn't want your secret to be revealed had to be breaking some sort of rule, right?

Mostly, he was worried about what he would see when he walked into Umber's hospital room. But there was still the sinking dread lingering in the back of his mind about how they would convince Flame to leave the room for a few seconds so that he could cast the spell.

Maybe he would leave on his own once they thought of the spell? Though, that seemed unlikely.

He was also contemplating something he could enchant on Umber to heal his burns, because he had to enchant something on him.

Worst came to worst though, he would probably just enchant a piece of cloth and rub that on his burns.

Clay said something about him giving him a necklace a couple weeks ago, didn't he? Turtle remembered. Maybe if it didn't get completely destroyed in the fire, I can enchant that.

He looked around and spotted Flame in the front of the group — he was the only one who knew where the hospital was, so he naturally led them all. He was constantly looking back at everyone whenever he flew too far ahead, since he was far faster than them all.

Peril, on the other talon, was flying near the back of the group so that she didn't bump into anyone.

As he was looking ahead at the distant Sky Kingdom, he felt a wing brush his. He looked over and could see that Flame had flown back next to him. His face was full of worry, confusion, any anxiety and Turtle could already tell he was about to ask him something, because why else would he have slowed down?

"Turtle," Flame said. "Why did Clay want you to come so badly? What are you all not telling me?" He had his voice lowered, sounding like a completely different dragon than before; sounding like the dragon he knew before this mess.

There's a lot we aren't telling you… Turtle thought.

"I- uh…I don't know," Turtle lied. "Maybe he just wanted to make sure I knew?" Flame gave him a glare and he looked like he'd burst out into another angry fit like he did a couple hours ago, but he wasn't angry enough to scream at him.

"Why won't you just tell me?" Flame asked. Though he didn't sound angry, he sounded more like he was begging to know. "We've been friends for almost two years now! Do you not trust me or something?

Turtle sighed. "It's…difficult," he responded. "We'll tell you eventually, just- not right now."

"We'll?" Flame echoed. "You mean they all know? Am I the only dragon here that doesn't know? Does Umber know?"

This made Turtle's anxiety spike. It's not that he didn't want to tell Flame, but it was more of a buildup of anxiety over the last couple years that made it harder everyday. There were a few times where he was about to tell him, but got cold talons last second.

"Yes…" Turtle said quietly. He tried saying it louder, but all that came out was a mutter. "Yes to both…" He could see the slight twitch in his eye as he said this, so he prepared for lots of screaming to come barreling his way in a couple of moments.

But instead of screaming at him, he just flew back to the front of the group without saying a word. He spotted Moon shooting him a stare (who was flying closer to the front), and she slowed her flying until she was next to Turtle.

Turtle sighed, turning to look at Moon. "How mad is he?"

"Pretty mad…" Moon said. "But hey! At least he counted down from ten!" There was an awkward silence where she realized that it wasn't funny.

Turtle looked down at the peaks of the mountain and hills, disappointed in himself for not only lying to Flame for this long, but also lying to his face just a few seconds ago. He now realized just how angry Flame would be when he found out that he was an animus.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over this," Moon said, shifting a bit closer to him. "He'd probably be more angry if you told him right now anyways."

"It's not that, it's just that I wish I told him sooner," Turtle said. "If I would've just said something at the start, then he wouldn't hate me so much right now." He paused, looking ahead to see that the Sky Kingdom was close. "It doesn't matter right now anyways, Umber is waiting for us." He gestured his talons toward the slowly darkening Sky Kingdom as all of the lights slowly faded.

They flew for the next thirty-ish minutes where Flame didn't say a word to anyone — or look back to check on any of them for that matter.

The lights had almost completely gone out, except for a few at the fronts of buildings and the palace. They were right outside of the walls of the Sky Kingdom now, so it shouldn't be more than a couple minutes until they were at the hospital.

At last, they landed down at the front of the hospital. The streets were dead quiet as he looked around at the surrounding area. It was definitely nice here with the pretty colored buildings, and the perfectly clean paths, and few dragons looming around wearing expensive jewelry. But nothing could compare to living underwater — though, that's probably because he was quite literally made to live underwater.

Flame walked inside of the hospital's waiting room, which was only lit by a few candles. There were a bunch of wooden seats where a few dragons sat who were mostly sleeping, except for one dragon, who was hunched over and looking down at his clasped talons nervously. There was also a SkyWing sitting at the front desk, but she didn't seem to care about them much.

He looked over at Moon to see that she had her talons gripped tightly around Qibli's skyfire, since she was probably reading every dragons' thoughts in this hospital, including Umber's.

Unconsciously, he checked to see who had come in with him, mainly to check how odd it looked for them all to be here at once.

Moon, Qibli, Flame, Kinkajou, Clay, Turtle counted. Wait, where's Peril?

He looked back at the door to see Peril shooting him a stare through the window on the door, so he quietly slithered back.

Peril can't come inside, Turtle realized.

"Peril-" he was cut off.

"No, no, it's fine," Peril said with a disappointed look on her face. "Just tell me when you heal him, and I'll find a place in the grass for now."

"Are you sure?" Turtle asked. "I can cast a…" he trailed off, flicking his head around briefly to see if Flame was listening, but he was more focused on preparing himself to see Umber again. "A spell."

"No. No more spells," Peril said sternly. "Besides, what would you tell Flame? That my scales just cooled down or something?"

Turtle thought about this for a moment. What would he tell Flame that wouldn't expose his magic? It's not like he could just forget about her firescales, and he would surely realize that something magical was going on. Regardless though, he still felt bad about leaving Peril outside to be stared at by all of the other SkyWings who probably knew who she was.

"Once I'm done with the spell, I'll come outside and tell you right away, I promise," Turtle said.

"Alright," Peril agreed. "But hurry up, I don't like the way Flame acts without Umber; he's always angry, and I can tell it gives Moon a headache." Turtle gave her a little nod and turned around back to check on Flame, who was whispering to himself.

Clay had been watching the whole thing, and him and Peril locked eyes for a few moments before Peril gave him a nod and he turned back around with a worried look plastered on his face.

He let those words sink in though. If he was being honest, the new Flame kind of scared him. He missed the Flame that was always smiling, caring, joyful…happy.

But he knew he was just mourning, and this was just his way of dealing with it. He had no idea how he would react to losing the dragon he cared most for to a fire. Just the image of Kinkajou lying down on a hospital bed dying or…dead, sent a shiver down his spine.

That wouldn't happen though, and it won't happen to Umber, Turtle thought. I just can't be found out by Flame, not right now.

He walked up to Flame and lightly rested one of his talons on his shoulder. "You ready?" he asked comfortingly.

Flame looked over and jumped a bit, his face full of anxiety and fear of what he was about to see and batted Turtle's talons away.

"Yeah," he said dismissively, shooting him a glare that emanated anger.

Flame started through the waiting room to the top right corner, where there was another wooden double door with a window on it, similar to the one they had entered through. Turtle turned around to check if everyone was following, and Moon still had her talons tightly clenched around Qibli's skyfire.

Flame pushed the door open to a long white hall filled with more doors. There was a staircase next to them, along with another one at the end of the hall, but he assumed that nobody else except him Flame knew because there were only a few candles still burning, leaving the hall to be eerily dark. The hall branched off near the middle, probably to more rooms with injured or sick dragons in them.

After a couple minutes of closely following Flame through the zigzaggy layout and up a few flights of stairs, they finally stopped next to a door with the numbers "251" printed on the top in black.

He knew what was on the other side of the door, so he mentally started preparing himself for what he was about to see next. He could feel his talons start shaking and his heart begin to race as he imagined the sight of Umber laying down with bandages wrapped all around his body.

I'll fix you though, don't you worry, Turtle thought.

He could hear Flame whispering to himself again. "Alright, c'mon Flame, you can do this. Just open the door, and walk in. No big deal, right?"

There was a pause for a few moments before Flame pushed the door open and walked in.

The room was almost pitch black, only dimly lit by the moons' light shining through the tiny window at the top of the middle back wall. He could see that there were four other dragons in this room other than Umber: Sora, Jet, Zephyr, and another SkyWing he's never seen before, who had bandages wrapped around his wings.

Maybe he was in the fire with them? Turtle wondered.

Sora was leaned over Umber and had fallen asleep with her head on his stomach, while Jet was snuggled close to Sora, wrapping one of her arms fully around her and resting her head on her shoulder. Zephyr was sitting in one of the chairs by the doorway, slouched over asleep just like Sora and Jet.

The other dragon, on the other talon, was just laying on the floor with his head leaning against the other bed in the room, which couldn't be comfortable since the frames were made of metal.

Looking at Umber, he could see that he was almost completely covered in bandages, and one of his wings looked like it had been bent the opposite direction. The necklace was still intact and only had light scratches on it, so it was definitely usable. Just the sight of this made him sick though; looking at his friend like this made him sick. He wanted to run out of the room and never come back, but he knew he couldn't, he had a job to do.

Flame stepped forward and began stumbling through the darkness blindly, grabbing onto the bed for support and shifting up toward the candle, which he quickly lit with a tiny plume of fire.

The light immediately began hurting Turtle's eyes and he quickly covered them with his talons. It felt like being flashed by a SeaWing's phosphorus scales at full power, and he stumbled over to Umber's side of the room and sat down against the wall in front of his bed while he waited for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.

"Jeeeet, close the curtainsss," Sora mumbled as she lifted her head up from Umber's stomach. "It's too earlyyy. Just give me five more min…" she trailed off, gazing down at Umber's beaten and burned body. "Oh moons, Umber! I completely forgot!" She fell into him with a hug.

Turtle looked over at the unknown SkyWing just to see that he was shielding his eyes from the light, but didn't say a word to anyone and just looked around in confusion.

"What's going on?" Zephyr said confusedly. "Oh…right." Her voice sounded a bit down as she remembered where she was and why she was here.

Flame looked over at Umber, his face looking about ready to break into tears. He sat down next to Sora, gripping Umber's forearm and looking down at his face.

Turtle felt a singe of guilt shoot through his heart as he looked at Flame's expression. Flame looked broken, like a shell of a dragon. Like a dragon whose wings were cut off and he was forced to forever walk until the day they died, and he had to force himself to stay put and not enchant Umber's necklace right now.

Jet looked around groggily at all of them. Her face went from tired, to sympathetic. "Oh- we can all go if you want. It's pretty cramped in here with all of you, and we've been with him like, all day now." Based on her tone though, she definitely did not want to go.

"What?" Clay spoke up, stepping up to the front of the crowd at the doorway. Turtle noticed that Moon was still clutching Qibli's skyfire. "No, no, it's completely fine, believe me. I lived in a cave for six years with-"

"Clay," Sora interrupted. "It's no big deal, really! Besides, I'm getting sick of this room anyways."

"Oh, come on," Clay said. "There's enough room for all of us in here!" As Turtle looked around, they definitely couldn't all fit in this tiny hospital room. Maybe if they took the bed out, but he doubted the hospital would just let them do that.

"No, it's okay," Zephyr said. "You and everyone else should be able to comfortably be with Umber right now. We've had our time with him, now you should, too."

Clay looked at them all, hesitant to let them leave. "Fine," Clay said. "You're coming back in here in the morning though, and I'll give up my spot if I have to."

"Clay, go see your brother," Zephyr said dismissively as she pushed past him. "Alright, let's go, Turvar."

"O-Okay," Turvar said nervously, quickly getting up and following her through the door. Jet and Sora both followed closely behind, and Moon, Kinkajou, and Qibli all stepped aside for them before walking in and closing the door behind them once they were through.

It was just them in the room now, and Flame was still leaning over Umber, either lost in thought or completely numb to what was happening around him; or both. Moon, Qibli, Kinkajou, and Clay all stared at Umber for a few minutes, heartbroken and shocked. Turtle knew he couldn't; his stomach wouldn't let him and he knew it.

Eventually though, he assumed they got sick too and retreated away. Qibli and Moon laid down on the floor together, Kinkajou sat down in the chair, and Clay sat down right next to Turtle in front of Umber's bed.

"Turtle," Clay said, breaking the silence. "will you be alright? You're looking a little sick." He realized that he hadn't wiped the expression of horror off of his face ever since he walked in and saw Umber, and he quickly fixed that.

"Oh- It's just…hard to look at Umber like that is all," Turtle responded. He lifted his talons palm up and began staring at them, trying to think of the spell he'd cast. "I'm going to enchant the necklace you gave him," he whispered in Clay's ear. "I still have to think of the right spell though."

"You're probably going to have a lot of thinking time." Clay pointed toward Flame, who had his talons clasped around Umber's and he could clearly see tears dripping from his face, and onto Umber's bandages.

Clay rested his head down on the floor, and closed his eyes. And Turtle prepared for the long night he was about to have ahead of him.


5 hours later…

Everyone was asleep at this point, and the candle had burned out hours ago. Flame was asleep on Umber's lap, Clay was laying down next to him, Kinkajou had fallen asleep on the chair, and Qibli and Moon had fallen asleep cuddled together. Not Turtle though; he had been up all night trying to come up with the perfect spell.

'I enchant this necklace to make the wearer recover any burns with little to no side effects'? No, maybe 'I enchant this necklace to heal any burns this dragon may have with no side effects at all'? What if I just make it heal anything? That might get confusing though. I really should've just asked Qibli to help me with this!

The only reason he hadn't woken him up was because of the tiniest little smirk he could see on his face whenever he was asleep next to Moon, and he didn't want to ruin whatever amazing dream he was probably having with this nightmare of a situation.

He looked around and could see that the sun was beginning to shine through the window, so he wouldn't have much longer to come up with a spell.

"Turtle?" a voice said from beside him whispered. "You're still awake?" He looked over to see that Clay had already woken up and was staring at him.

"Yeah, I've…just been thinking of a spell all night…" Turtle whispered back. "I don't want to screw it up somehow and have it not work or something."

"Hey, I'm sure whatever you've got right now will work. I mean, you're the one with the magic, so you must know what you're doing with it," Clay said comfortingly.

I sure hope so, Turtle thought.

"What are you two talking about?" Kinkajou asked groggily.

"Oh, nothing," Clay said. "Does anyone want some food? I saw that they had a food bar last night, and I'm sure they're open for breakfast." Turtle noticed that he had been sneaking quick glances over at Umber throughout the whole conversation.

"It's morning already?" Moon interjected. She stood up and immediately checked on Umber, but only saw Flame sleeping on his lap. "Qibli, wake up, Clay's getting breakfast." She hit him on the shoulder lightly.

"It's morning already?" Qibli mimicked, pushing himself up off of the floor and shooting a glance over at Umber just like Moon and Clay had. "Just get me something breakfast-y."

"I'll be back in a few minutes," Clay said, opening the door and closing it quietly behind him.

They all sat there for the next couple minutes, waiting for Clay to come back up with their food. Qibli and Moon just sat next to each other with their tails intertwined, staring at Flame for most of the time.

Turtle considered waking him up a few times, but backed out last second because he knew that Flame would probably just yell at him or something, and they weren't on the best of terms right now anyways.

"Qibli," Turtle called out, instantly grabbing his attention. "I need your help with this spell. I don't want it to do the wrong thing, or not heal him, or do something we can't see until it's too late."

"Well, what do you have right now?" Qibli asked. "Have you thought of everything that could happen?"

"Well, I think. I've been up all night trying to perfect it, just to make sure nothing else happens except-"

"Will you all shut the fuck up?!" Flame interjected angrily. "It's too early for this shit."

"Flame? How long have you been awake?" Turtle said, worrying that Flame might've overheard something he shouldn't have.

"Long enough to know that none of you ever sleep! Now shut up so I can go back to my dream."

Turtle could see Moon turned a little sad at the mention of his dream, and assume that they had probably ruined it for him. This realization made him feel a bit of guilt drip across his scales because anything would be better than this situation.

"Flame, do you want any food?" Qibli asked. "Clay just went down to get us all some breakfast a few minutes ago. You've got to be hungry after yesterday."

"No."

"Oh, c'mon," Qibli said. "I'm sure it'll make you feel better. Food always makes me feel better-"

"I thought I told you to shut the fuck up!" Flame barked, lifting his head and turning toward Qibli. "I'm not hungry, and I probably won't be for a while! Now will you just fucking shut up and let me…just let me go back to dreaming about Umber," his voice faltered.

Qibli's jaw dropped a bit, and guilt freely roamed across his whole face and he immediately backed off.

That's when the door swung open and in walked Clay with plates and plates and plates full of food. It didn't look like the most appetizing meal, but it was a hospital, so what would he expect?

He handed Turtle a paper plate full of dried out looking waffles, which only had a bit of maple syrup drizzled on top and a tiny fork. Kinkajou got a plate full of oranges and apples, likely picked fresh from a bowl that's been sitting out all night. Qibli got a plate of horribly scrambled eggs, which he shared with Moon, and Clay had a bunch of plates that had a mix of everything.

"Flame, do you want any?" Clay asked generously, noticing that he was awake.

"Fuck off," Flame said, his voice being muffled from being buried in Umber's chest.

"Alright, well if you change your mind, I'll leave a plate on the other bed for you." Clay walked over to the bed and set down a plate with a few dry pancakes on it, which had a similar amount of maple syrup on them than Turtle's did.

They ate their food in silence for the next couple of minutes. Flame didn't touch his food and only stayed with his head on Umber's chest. He swore he could hear a few whimpers come from his direction, each one sending another shockwave of restless guilt surging through him.

He couldn't take it anymore, and he knew he had to do something. Every cry from Flame made him want to get up and do the enchantment right now, regardless if Flame was in the room or not.

I'm doing the enchantment. Right now, Turtle thought.

"Flame!" Turtle exclaimed, lifting himself up to his feet. Flame's head jolted up to stare at him, tears still rolling down his face. "Can you please leave the room for a second?"

Everyone's eyes were on him at this point, staring him down. There was a mix of happiness and surprise at his sudden outburst across them all, especially Clay who couldn't have looked more happy right now.

"Wh-What?" Flame said confusedly. "What the fuck? No!"

"Hey, Flame, it'll just be for a few seconds," Moon said hurriedly. "You can come back in right after, we promise!"

"What? Why the hell would I leave? What are you trying to do?" Flame asked.

"Please?" Turtle begged. "We'll just be…uh…talking about something quickly."

"No! Whatever you two want to talk about, just do it over there," Flame said. "I don't give a shit about your stupid little secrets right now."

Moon glanced over at Turtle and shook her head.

I have to… Flame may hate me for the rest of his life for lying to him, but I have to.

His muscles were tense and his heart began pounding as he built up the courage. He kept telling himself the words he needed to say, but they just kept being taken by the wind every time he opened his mouth. Until finally, he forced himself to speak up.

"Flame-" Turtle started.

"No! Tell me why you have to leave the fucking room!" Flame started. "What are you trying to do with Umber?! Why do you want me to leave the room so badly? If you hurt him, I swear to the fucking m-"

"I'M ANIMUS!" Turtle screeched. He could feel his heart pounding through his chest as he yelled, and the whole room instantly fell silent — too silent. Silent to the point where he could probably hear dragons' thoughts just like Moon if he listened hard enough.

After a few moments of this though, Flame finally spoke up.

"Bullshit," he said in a low voice. "You're lying to me again, just like yesterday!"

If he won't believe me, I'll just have to show him, Turtle thought. He looked around the room for something he could do anything with, and then remembered the plate of pancakes that Clay had set down on the bed a few minutes ago. They were still steaming hot, and the little maple syrup that was on them was dripping down the sides. Too bad they were dry though.

"There's only one SeaWing animus, and that's Anemone! You can't just keep lying to me! Why try and get my hopes up just to-"

"Come," Turtle interrupted, waving his talons at the plate of pancakes sitting on the other bed.

The plate quickly lifted in the air and drifted across the room. All eyes were on him and time felt like it had slowed a thousand fold as it elegantly landed in his talons. There was another moment of silence.

"No… This is some sort of joke or something! Why are you joking about this?! This isn't funny!" Flame yelled in denial.

"He isn't lying Flame!" Kinkajou interjected. "He's animus, and he's trying to heal Umber but you won't give him a chance to! Now, if you'll just let him enchant Umber, he will be perfectly fine and we can put this mess behind us!"

Flame thought about this deeply for a few moments; he could see the hesitation on his face as he considered everything.

"...So Umber knew?" Flame asked in a low, defeated tone, his voice full of betrayal and hurt. "How long?"

There was a moment of silence, where Turtle unconsciously tucked his wings in anticipation. "Two years…" Qibli spoke up, breaking the tension. "Back when you two first started dating." All that Flame did was stare at him angrily, and Turtle could almost feel the hurt emanating from him.

Just his cold stare made him want to run away and never look back. This new Flame was really beginning to scare him; he was nothing like he was a couple days ago.

"Two years," Flame echoed slowly, taking in a long, deep breath as if he was trying to calm himself down. "...So, what you're telling me is that you don't trust me, right? You never trusted me, did you?" He began raising his voice.

"No, Flame! It's not like that!" Moon pleaded.

"Really? Because that's not exactly how it fucking seems right now!" Flame said angrily. "What other things are you not telling me about that you've already told Umber?!" He snapped his head toward Turtle and took a step forward, expecting an answer.

Turtle could feel his talons shaking in fear and nervousness. He took a step back to even out the distance, knowing he had to say something soon; but the words had trouble leaving his mouth.

"A couple things…" Turtle muttered, staring at the floor in shame.

Flame just stood there and stared at him for a few moments, just like he had Qibli. Except he looked about ready to claw him across the snout for even speaking up, even though he was almost forcing him to. "Do the spell, and get the fuck out of my life."

"What? Come on, Flame!" Qibli said. "That's not something we can just tell you like it's nothing!"

"Oh yeah? Well you told Umber like it was nothing!" Flame retorted.

"That's different! He was in our winglet!" Qibli argued. "And you were just- we didn't know what you'd try and do! How can you blame us for that, especially after what you tried to do to Stonemover?" But his explanations were left ignored as Flame took in a deep breath and snapped his head toward Turtle again.

"Spell. Now," he reminded. "Say it out loud so I know you don't pull some bullshit."

He could hardly believe it. All of the years that they had built trust and friendship were instantly thrown out of the window. He had a sinking feeling that it had something to do with Darkstalker, but he wasn't Darkstalker. He had helped defeatDarkstalker for moons sake! He was probably the most trustworthy animus in all of Pyrrhia!

I should've said something sooner… Turtle thought in a fit of disappointment.

"What?" Turtle questioned in shock. "I wouldn't-" He cut himself off after seeing smoke begin to rise from Flame's nostrils, the smoke threatening him just by existing.

Slowly and nervously, Turtle inched his way past Flame and over to Umber. Just the sight of him began to make him feel sick to his stomach. Every bandage, every scratch, and even his obviously broken wing that had been forcefully put back into place to heal properly made him want to puke.

Just a few more minutes of this, and I'll never have to see Umber like this again, Turtle reassured himself.

He slowly reached his talons toward the necklace around Umber's neck, but was stopped right as he tried to recall the spell he came up with.

"Wait!" Flame interrupted, making Turtle's heart skip a beat. "Tell me the spell you came up with, without touching him."

"I- uh," Turtle mumbled as he struggled to recall the spell in this stressful situation, backing his talons away from Umber. He looked over at Clay, who looked terrified of the whole situation; most likely more for Umber than Turtle, which was understandable. "I enchant this necklace to heal any and every burn on any dragon's body who puts it on, instantly waking them up from whatever sleep they may be in once fully healed."

Flame thought about the spell for a moment, before giving him to go ahead. "Say it out loud."

Slowly, he inched his talons toward the necklace, until he got a firm grasp on it. He looked over at Flame who was yet again, threatening him with just his glare. "SAY IT!" Flame screamed desperately.

He took a deep breath. "I enchant this necklace to heal any and every burn on any dragon's body who puts it on, instantly waking them up from whatever sleep they may be in once fully healed." He could feel the familiar tingle in his talons as the necklace enchanted, confirming that it worked and let go.

They waited a few moments. Nothing happened.

They waited another few moments. Nothing happened.

They kept waiting, until seconds turned into minutes, yet still, nothing happened.

Turtle's heart began to pick up in speed, as he slowly started to come to the realization that maybe the spell hadn't worked. What did I do wrong? he thought. I spent all night on the spell! How did it not work?!

"Why isn't he awake yet?!" Flame asked impatiently. "You said he'd wake up once he was healed!"

"I-I don't know!" Turtle responded, his talons shaking in anxiety. "I spent all night perfecting it! I don't know what could've went wrong-"

"WELL SOMETHING WENT WRONG!" Flame exclaimed. "EITHER YOU FUCKED UP THE SPELL, OR YOU COVERED IT UP WITH ANOTHER!"

"He wouldn't do that Flame!" Moon pleaded. "You've known him for years! You know he'd never do something like that!"

There was a pause. "...Get out."

"Wait! Just let me try-" Turtle was cut off.

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Flame screamed. "ALL OF YOU, GET THE FUCK OUT RIGHT NOW!"

Turtle could clearly see that there was more smoke rising from his nostrils at this point. He could see the rage and disappointment, mixed with a little sorrow in his eyes as a single tear ran down his face in the midst of his screaming.

Everyone began shuffling over to the door, hesitant to leave Umber, even Clay — who most definitely wasn't happy about having to leave — was following. He knew he would probably understand though. First Kinkajou, went through the door, then Clay, then Moon and Qibli, and finally Turtle, who stopped right before and chanced a glance back over at Umber.

He stared at Umber one last time before he had to leave, his burns looking completely unchanged. I'm so sorry Umber, he thought with a stab of guilt. I should've thought of the spell more.

He gently closed the door shut, leaving Flame and Umber behind, alone in the room together.


Author's note: Sorry for the unannounced break! I just felt really burnt out from writing and decided to take the week off. From now on, I'll try and say when I'm taking a break so that people aren't just left in the dark for a week. Also, I'm not really proud of this chapter, it could've been better. But I don't want to burn myself out again with emotional scenes, so I think it's better left alone for the most part haha. Also, potential break this week again (sorry) because I want to release an LGTBQ short for June. I'll try to get as much done today and tomorrow, and depending on that will determine if I take a break or not.