TW: Slight gore

Clay had left hours ago, and Flame had been staring into Umber's eyes for…he didn't know how long actually, his mind was stuck thinking about all the things he wanted to tell him.

Would he be mad about what he did to Turtle? Surely not, especially once he realizes that he had saved him from a potential spell that would screw with his brain. He was sure everything would come to him in the moment though, and he probably wouldn't have time to tell him all about that as he buried him deep in a hug.

If only I was faster… Flame thought. If only I didn't rely on USELESS FUCKING DRAGON'S HELP! He could feel the familiar feel of rage brewing inside him as he went back and thought of setting every single one of them on fire, so they went through something similar as Umber.

That scene kept replaying in his head though, and all of the things he could've done differently — faster, even — stood out like a sore talon now that he was keeping an eye out.

I could've ran faster… I could've gotten away from those healers quicker… I could've realized sooner that nobody was going to help… Flame thought, tears forming in his eyes. Maybe I should've left him in there. Maybe he's just suffering more than he would've, and he's going to die no matter what…

As much as it hurt to think about, it was starting to seem like a very real possibility. Umber's burns haven't been getting any better, even with the shots and the cream they had rubbed on him every now and again.

The cream had certainly worked with him, since he was able to take his bandages off completely this morning with almost no scar to show for it. Except for a few tiny spots where the burns were especially bad, which not even the magical cream could fix.

The healer's wrong though! Flame yelled at himself. Umber will live. He'll be able to be woken up soon, and then we can go back home and read graphicolls and make food or whatever he wants to do! …Right? He squeezed Umber's talons in his.

Everything fell silent as he cleared his mind and rested his head on Umber's chest, listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart. Strangely, it brought him a weird peace listening to it, maybe because it showed that his body was still fighting?

But almost like a sixth sense, his ears picked up the specific sound of heavy talons clacking down the hall, as if someone was running. Even though there were far more than just one, his brain specifically picked up on these specific ones more than of the others.

He poked his head up and strained his ears.

Then, he heard them stop in front of the door, followed by the doorknob twisting and the door swinging open, where a familiar massive brown dragon stood, holding a familiar shiny blue gem in his talons. His expression was full of excitement and there was a massive smile formed from ear to ear.

His wings were shaking with exhaustion and he looked like he could hardly stand up from the way his knees bent.

"I have it!" Clay panted. Flame could see the light peeking out from underneath his enclosed talons. "I have the dreamvisitor!"

Behind him, he could see Moon, Kinkajou, Qibli, Zephyr, Sora, Jet, and even Turvar. But the dragon that stood out most to him was Turtle. He looked innocent enough, but Flame knew that there had to be a monster behind that disguise — façade, even.

"Oh, no!" Flame shook his head and shot a stare at Turtle, who took a step back. "No, no, no, no, no! You are not seeing Umber!"

"Flame, we aren't doing this right now!" Kinkajou interjected. "ALL of us are seeing Umber, whether you like it or not!"

"Fuck no!" Flame retorted. "He's the only one who doesn't get to see Umber, he'll do something to him, I just know it! LIke, seriously, how can you all possibly trust him?!" He took a step closer, his anger bubbling up.

Turtle just looked nervous — as usual. Too nervous for an animus that could easily just rip him in half if he really wanted to, and then make everyone forget about his existence entirely. Maybe, just maybe, with the smallest possible chance, he might not actually want to hurt anyone? Shouldn't he be completely fearless? Or is this just part of his grand plan to fuck up everything?

"Well for starters, he saved Winter's life!" Qibli interjected. "Actually, he saved all of our lives! Y'know, from the evil animus that tried to kill us all a couple years ago?"

"That's just a part of his plan! He'll get close, and then stab you in the back just like every other animus!" Flame argued.

"And Stonemover?" Qibli challenged. "If all animus are so evil, then why did Stonemover lock himself away in a cave for years, and outright refuse to leave? Was getting rid of his magic all a part of his evil plan too?"

He's different though! Flame thought. He was used by the NightWings! Of course he wouldn't want his power!

"That's different!" Flame argued. "He never wantedto be animus in the first place!"

"But he's still animus, right?" Qibli retorted. "If all animus are evil, then shouldn't he be busy destroying Pyrrhia or something right now? What about Anemone?"

Qibli had just used his own logic against him — which wasn't entirely unexpected, but that didn't mean he liked it. But… He tried wrapping his head around it, but couldn't perform the mental gymnastics he needed. But for Anemone, that was easy since she was merely a dragonet.

"Okay, maybe not ALL animus are evil, but that's a nine out of ten scenario! Stonemover is the one exception!" Flame tried.

"So what about Anemone? Are we just ignoring the fact that she hasn't done anything evil recently?" Flame could feel his anger rising, slamming against his chest like a dam about to break.

"Oh my fucking moons Qibli, SHE'S FIVE! What the fuck can she do?!" Flame yelled.

"Yeah! And so was Turtle when we took down Darkstalker! She's capable enough to use her magic!"

Gah! This whole argument is fucking stupid! Flame thought in a fit of rage.

"Okay, whatever! You win! Now shut the fuck up so I can dreamvisit Umber already!" he yelled angrily, snatching the gem out of Clay's talons and turning toward Umber. Clay jumped a little as he grabbed it, but that could've just been his shakiness from the fly back.

"This doesn't mean I trust you either, Turtle. It just means that I'm done with this shitty argument." He walked over to Umber and sat down by his side, and put the dreamvisitor up to his forehead.

But the anger from the argument before kept coming back, and he couldn't focus on Umber clearly with Turtle constantly popping in his mind. He knew he wouldn't be able to properly dreamvisit until he calmed down, but how could he when he's in a room full of dragons he hates?

He heard the door shut as everyone walked in and sat down, though he didn't necessarily care as long as Turtle stayed away from Umber, and he kept the dreamvisitor glued to his forehead.

I need a way to calm down already, dammit! Flame thought.

So, he began relentlessly digging through his memories for something — anything that he could use to calm himself down, until his mind landed on a happy memory; a fresh happy memory at that.

He pushed his talons up against the fabric of the bandage, making sure it was secure against Umber's scales.

"Alright, done," Flame said. There was a pause. "Does…it still hurt?" he asked hesitantly, unsure he would be able to hear the answer without another outburst of anger.

"It's a little sore around the edges but only hurts when you touch it," Umber informed.

Flame could feel his face begin to turn red, and he swore he remembered the feeling of smoke coming from his nose. But with a stroke of luck, he remembered a technique that Starf had taught him. That technique was some stupid "Control your breathing" bullshit that he thought would never work on him

Obviously Umber saw the look on his face when he said this though, because he quickly spoke up, interrupting his counting "But it doesn't hurt that much though!" he quickly blurted. "It's nothing, really!"

Ten… Flame thought in the real world, taking deep, calming breaths.

"No, it's fine," Flame said softly. "I'm calm," he reassured himself.

Nine…

Flame could see Umber's brow rise in surprise and that gave him a feeling in his chest that he could only describe as a mix of happiness and pride, and he felt a smile form on his face with delight.

Eight…

This technique is something he usually ignored whenever he was told to do this in the past, but the desperation he had to not lose control in front of Umber again outweighed his stubbornness of the techniques he thought never worked.

Seven…

"How about we go read now?" Flame said. "We still have a while before we have to leave." Umber smiled, his face lighting up the room like the sun through the window.

Six…

Then, another memory popped in his head. One that highlighted how happy he was when he was with Umber, and just thinking about it brought him a figment of that same happiness as if he was experiencing it all over again second talon.

"So this is our new house?" Umber asked excitedly as he ran his talon down the wall.

"Yep! All we have to do is get some furniture now," Flame said. "It's a little small, but now we get to live together!"

Five…

"I love it!" Umber exclaimed as he threw himself in Flame's arms. "Oh! We could probably put a nice big table over in that corner so we can read all of your graphicolls!"

"Our graphicolls," Flame corrected.

Four…

Then another…

"Come on, MudWing!" Flame called out as he flapped his wings. "Keep up before I leave you behind!"

"I can't!" Umber yelled from a distance. "How is a MudWing supposed to keep up with a SkyWing when he's flying so fast?"

Three…

And another…

"Just- Justi…" Umber tried, his talon seemingly stuck under the word as if the ink was a magnet and his talon was made of metal. He tried sounding it out for a few more seconds before looking over at Flame for the answer.

"Justifiable," Flame said.

"These words are always so hard!" Umber complained. "But at least I have the smartest SkyWing in all of Pyrrhia to help me." He shot a smile at Flame and cuddled closer, resting his head on his shoulder.

Two…

"Aw, don't flatter me," Flame said. "I'm sure there's another, better SkyWing out there."

"Flame! Stop saying that!" Umber scolded. "I couldn't ask for a better SkyWing in my life!" He looked up at Flame with a smile, his warm glare making him want to cuddle him closer.

One…

"I love you Flame, and no other SkyWing is ever going to change that."

He jolted his eyes open to see the open sky around him, before quickly realizing that he wasn't on solid ground. He took his wings out as fast as he could. He was a bit disorientated after the sudden jump between realities, but he could still tell up from down just enough to right himself.

He looked down at the ground in an attempt to figure out where he was.

The grass was greener over here, with few trees and a big, muddy swamp far, far into the distance. So far that he could hardly even see it past the usual fog.

The sky was bright and sunny with only a few clouds in view, but beautiful nonetheless.

We're near the Mud Kingdom, Flame thought. So where's Umber? Is he flying with his sibs or something?

He looked around for the next minute, and almost gave up hope until he spotted light blue, silver, and pale blue scales in the distance. Most of them were holding spears, but there were a couple swords amongst them. But something was still off about this sight because why would IceWings fly all the way over to the Mud Kingdom?

Taking a closer look at the crowd of IceWings, he spotted something that sent a shiver down his spine. Different shades of brown scales mixed in near the center of the crowd, as if they were being surrounded. And one of them, he recognized clearly: it was Umber — Umber and his sibs.

He was holding a spear and was covered in heavy looking metal armor, constantly shooting his head left and right and jabbing his spear at the air.

He looked…scared, which was weird for Umber because he was almost never scared. Even on his potential deathbed he looked like he was at peace, which was comforting and scary at the same time.

Then, he figured out what was going on. They are being surrounded… Umber and his sibs are surrounded by IceWings with spears and swords. This is war.

Without hesitation, he shot himself forward and began flying at Umber as fast as he possibly could. It didn't take too long for him to get there, but now that he was close he could see something even more odd than this whole dream.

There were six dragons in the group, and Clay wasn't one of them. Umber never talked about Crane too much, but he did know she died only a few days before Clay escaped the Sky Kingdom by Icicle's talons.

"Get the fuck away from him!" Flame yelled as he clawed at the nearest IceWing. He had a straight shot right at their throat, and they hardly reacted to his yelling, so he was sure he was about to land a perfect shot.

But instead of opening a fresh cut, his talons just phased directly through. Though he could still feel the iciness of their scales, his talons made no real contact with them.

"What the fuck?" Flame said aloud. "Did you even hear me? Get the fuck away from him!" He tried clawing the IceWing again, but only had the same result.

He built up fire in the back of his throat, and blew it as hard as he could at the IceWing, lighting up the sky with all varieties of reds and oranges. Except when the blinding light faded, they didn't even seem phased by it.

He looked over at Umber, expecting some sort of hopeful look on his face as he stared at him with excitement, but was only met with the same panicked and saddened face from before.

"Umber!" Flame called out, zipping past all of the IceWing guards and flying toward him. "I'm here! I'm right here! It's really…" he trailed off. Umber didn't seem phased by him either, just like the IceWing from before.

Why isn't he reacting? Is he blind or something? Why does it seem like he can't see me? Flame thought. Wait…can he see me? He waved his talons in his face, but Umber just kept looking around in fear.

He can't… Flame realized. The only way that's possible is if…is if he's having a nightmare… But why would he be having a nightmare about the war? Flame wondered. Sure, a lot of crazy, traumatizing shit happens, but Umber never seemed so bothered by it that he'd have dreams about it, especially years later.

He looked around at the six MudWings, paying close attention to Crane. Unless…something happens here. Something so horrific that he's still haunted by it after all this time.

Taking a closer look at Crane, he could definitely see the similarities between her and Umber, and it was almost frightening. Crane was a little bigger than Umber with slightly thinner and longer horns, and a slim face and body comparable to Sora's.

"Stay calm and remember your training!" Reed yelled. "Stay in position and cover each other!"

Then, his heart jumped as he saw an IceWing lunge at Umber as he looked over at Reed. He instinctively flung himself around Umber, but only phased directly through him and fell forward, but caught himself only a few seconds later.

"UMBER!" he screamed, whipping his body back around. But that IceWing from before wasn't there, and Umber was unharmed. Obviously shaken up, but unharmed nonetheless. He had his talons covering his face as he braced for the impact that never came.

After a few seconds, he lifted his talons out from in front of his eyes, and quickly glanced at everything around him. He was rubbing his talons all over his body, sure that there had to be some sort of nick or stab that he wasn't feeling yet.

But he had been so focused on Umber that he had completely ignored what had saved him in the first place.

Looking past Umber, he could see brown scales brawling with white, both landing a few hits and scratches over the next few seconds. Until one of them made a mistake, and ended up in the other's talons in a headlock almost instantly.

Now that he could clearly see both of their faces, he recognized both of them immediately. It was Icicle and Crane, and Crane had just lost the fight that meant her life.

As they both hovered there, Crane struggled, jabbing her elbows and kicking her legs at Icicle. Until, with one clean slice, Icicle slid her talons across Crane's throat and she let out one last gurgle as blood started pouring from it, Icicle wearing a big smile on her face all the while.

"Holy fuck!" Flame exclaimed as he covered his eyes with his talons. Though he couldn't see it anymore, the image was still buried deep inside of his mind and that last lowly gurgle from Crane made him want to vomit.

"C-Crane…?" Umber muttered. Even though he couldn't see his face, he could tell that he was crying just by the way his voice shook.

Holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck I did not just watch that, Flame thought in a panic.

He always imagined the scene to be bad, but not THIS bad. Actually, bad was an understatement, it was horrifying. Even though he didn't know Crane like Umber did, every ounce of his body hated this probably just as much as Umber did.

"Now's our chance!" Reed yelled "Retreat!"

As soon as he said it, Reed bolted toward the ground, furling his wings back in and hurling himself to a freefall. Then Marsh, then Sora, then Pheasant, until the only ones left were him, Umber, and Crane along with all of the IceWing soldiers.

But Umber didn't go down with them, and just stayed there in complete shock at what had just happened.

Then, Icicle dropped Crane, leaving her to freefall out of the sky, and Umber followed. Except he didn't look like how a dragon normally did when they freefalled; his back was turned toward the ground and his arms and wings were freely flapping around.

"NO!" Flame screamed as he turned himself downward and chased down after Umber desperately.

As they fell, the sky and ground around them disappeared and slowly faded into a black abyss, where every sound echoed in the seemingly infinite void. He looked around in confusion, before looking back down at Umber and snapping his focus back on him.

Now, they were only mere inches apart, and Flame's talons were hardly centimeters away from Umber's, when all of a sudden they splashed down into a pool of red liquid that reeked of iron.

He hit the bottom of it almost instantly, except there was no pain. Actually, he felt no need to breathe either. It was like he could hold his breath under…whatever this stuff was forever, just like a SeaWing could.

He stood up and looked over at Umber who was already standing up and had the strange red liquid staining his scales. "No no no no no! Not again!" he cried.

"Umber, can you hear me?! No what? Has this happened before?!" Flame tried, yet his calls still went unheard as Umber looked at the pitch black sky, as if he was expecting something to fall out of it.

And that's exactly what happened. After a few seconds of Flame treading his way through the thick red liquid, desperately trying to get to Umber, something else splashed down once he got close, sending even more of it to splash all over him and Umber.

"Please don't…" Umber muttered, tears falling down his eyes and dripping into the pool with a quiet splash that echoed throughout the void. "Please, please don't!"

"Umber…" a new voice said, one that he's never heard before.

"No!" Umber cried, looking the opposite direction and turning toward Flame, sealing his eyes shut tightly. "Go away! This isn't real, none of this is real!" his voice echoed.

As the ripples of water calmed down, he looked past Umber and saw the familiar face of Crane. She was laying down and looking up at the endless black sky, her eyes glazed over with a big red cut on her neck that drained into the pool and disappeared as it blended in. With this, Flame finally realized that they were both standing in a big, endless pool of blood.

The blood was covering almost her whole body as she spoke in gentle wheezes and coughed up blood every now and again.

"Umber…why didn't you save me?" Crane asked. Umber's face immediately perked up and he shot his eyes open, a light gasp leaving him at the same time. It was almost as if he was surprised — like he was expecting her to say something different.

"W-What?" Umber asked confusedly. "W-What are you talking about?"

"You could've saved me, but instead you sat there and did nothing." Her voice began to raise. "We would have both made it out alive if only you did something instead of sit there and do nothing!" her voice raised, as if she was getting angry.

The sudden outburst from Crane sent a shiver down Flame's spine, even more so knowing that Umber's mind was doing all of this to himself. Was it to torment him? Punish him? Or did he really blame himself for Crane's death?

"I-I didn't- I thought…" Umber tried, turning around to look at her.

"YOU THOUGHT WHAT? THAT YOUR LIFE WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MINE?" Crane screamed. "YOU CAN'T EVEN DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST A SKYWING AND YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE MORE IMPORTANT?! IT SHOULD'VE BEEN YOU! YOU SHOULD'VE BEEN THE ONE TO DIE, NOT ME!"

"I tried…I really did! I couldn't do anything-"

"WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP MAKING EXCUSES?! YOU'RE USELESS! I WISH ICICLE WOULD'VE IGNORED ME AND WENT STRAIGHT FOR YOU! AND SO DOES REED, SORA,"

"No, stop it! Please!"

"...MARSH, AND PHEASANT! I SHOULD'VE LET HER KILL YOU WHILE I HAD THE CHANCE!"

"Stop it!"

"IF I WAS STILL ALIVE RIGHT NOW, I WOULD-"

"I SAID STOP!" Umber cried, sending a shockwave of pain and regret around him. Flame was left there, shocked by the pure amount of agony in his words. He had never heard Umber yell with such pain in his voice before, let alone raise his voice in the first place.

He collapsed into the pool of blood as he covered himself with his wings, his sobs echoing throughout the room, each cry making Flame's heart ache just a little more than before.

Umber…you should've said something, Flame thought sympathetically. We could've worked through this together!

As the echoes of his outburst began to fade, white splotches started appearing on the black wall, much like a RainWing when you scared them. They eventually grew and grew, until the black void was completely tuned out and it left a blank white room while the blood slowly drained.

Crane — or, fake Crane — had disappeared sometime during Umber's scream and the changing walls around them.

Even though the blood was gone, there was still some stuck to their scales that dripped on the floor.

Umber continued weeping on his talons and knees, completely ignoring what he had just done to the environment around them.

"U-Umber?" Flame called out, expecting nothing but a saddened weep as a response.

But to his surprise, Umber jolted his head up and furled his wings back in, flipping his head around to look at him. "Flame?" He paused. "N-No, this is just another stupid trick! Go away!" he sniffled, turning his head away.

Flame frowned. Not because he told him to go away, but because he was so accustomed to his mind toying with him that he immediately thought it was fake, no questions asked. A week… Flame thought. He's been going through this for a week…

"N-No Umber, I'm real! It's really me!" Flame tried.

"That's what you said last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that!" Umber said, pain surging through his voice with each word.

He walked over to Umber, each step leaving a bloody talonprint on the white floor, before laying down next to him. "I'm using a dreamvisitor, Umber," he explained, wrapping one of his wings around him. "We're all here. Sora, Jet, Zephyr, Moon, Qibli, Kinkajou, Clay, Peril, Turvar, and…Turtle."

Untrustworthy fucker, Flame thought. He's probably the one doing this to Umber!

"But Reed, Marsh, Pheasant, Mom, Chromis, and Shrimp should be here any day now, Tsunami must've sent a letter or something."

Umber looked over at him blankly, tears streaming down his face. "That's how I know this is fake…" Umber said disappointedly. "You can't possibly know who Turvar is, I never told you about him. I had a little hope there for a minute that you were actually here." His voice was low and saddened, as if the little bit of happiness he had left was ripped away.

He knows Turvar? How?

"What? You know Turvar?" Flame asked confusedly.

"He saved me from that SkyWing, the day before our anniversary." He sighed. "Moons, what am I even doing? I'm just talking to myself here." He shifted away, but Flame kept his wing firmly in place. He wasn't going to let Umber slip away from him, not again.

Not ever again.

"He saved us from the fire," Flame explained. "He came in with this weird fucking animus gem thing and got us out. Both of us! C'mon Umber, you have to believe I'm actually here! Please!"

Umber looked at him with a look of surprise, as if this was the first bit of affection he's gotten all week, before his face reverted back. "No…it can't be you," he denied. "That dreamvisitor is all the way back at Jade Mountain with Sunny."

"Clay got it, I swear!" Flame said. "He just got back with it! The first thing I did was dreamvisit you!" hr tried. "What can I do to prove to you that I'm really here?"

Umber paused, thinking of a question. "Fine, then tell me. What is my hatching day?"

Uh oh, Flame panicked. When is his hatching day? June? No, September? Or was it August? October? Oh fuck…

"Uhm…November…?" Flame guessed with a panic.

"Flame, it is you!" Umber said happily. WIthin a fraction of a second, he twisted around and hugged Flame, sending them both rolling before Umber landed on top of him. His grasp never faltered all throughout their roll though, and he stayed close. "I missed you so much!"

"I got that right?" Flame questioned.

"No! Of course not! My hatching day is in July! Only the real Flame would forget it!" Umber cried happily.

Umber dug his snout into Flame's shoulder, tears violently dripping down Umber's face. He couldn't help but feel a smile form on his, his heart racing with glee as the warmth of Umber's scales met his at least one last time.

Flame wrapped his wings their full length around Umber, pulling him in tightly. "I missed you too," he said softly, a lowly tear running down his face. "I've missed you so so so so much!"

They lay there for the next couple of minutes, intertwining their tails and enjoying the time they had together. Flame never knew how much he truly craved the feeling of Umber's talons against his back, or the feeling of pulling him close with his wings until just now.

Shy tears left Flame's eyes all the while, until finally, Umber lifted his head up and stared directly down at Flame. In that short moment, his shoulder craved for more of his warmth, but that need was quickly drowned out by the feeling of Umber's lips meeting his, and he could practically feel how desperate Umber was to feel loved again.

Flame graciously accepted, and they kissed for the next few minutes, momentarily stopping to breathe — which was odd, because he didn't feel the need to while he was under that pool of blood.

But eventually, Flame reluctantly pulled away, a burning question plaguing his mind the whole time, partly ruining the whole experience.

"What happened?" Umber asked. "Are you okay?" He tried to kiss him again, but Flame denied it this time, which obviously took Umber by surprise by his shocked expression.

"No, no, no, no, stop!" Flame said. "No I'm not okay! I need you to tell me…what happened back there? What was all of that about?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean?" Umber asked, obviously knowing what Flame was talking about.

"Crane getting her throat slit trying to save you? Her screaming at you that you should've been the one to die?" Flame said, trying as hard as he could to not come off aggressive. "Is this what you were going to tell me about? Was this the nightmare you had at the beach? Is this…really how you feel?"

"I-...uh. I-I, um," Umber stammered, breaking eye contact and looking away guiltily at the surrounding floor. "Yes…" he admitted lowly.

Flame grabbed Umber's face, and forcefully steered it to look him in the eyes. "Umber, look at me!" Umber tried to bob his head away, before Flame turned it back again. "No, look at me! Crane saved your life for a reason! It wasn't your fault! I saw the whole thing, and there was nothing you could do there, even if you weren't starstruck by shock!"

Umber's face began raining tears, splashes of them dripping onto Flame. He jerked his head away and smacked Flame's talons as he closed his eyes, getting up from above Flame and turning around. "No! It was my fault!" Umber cried. "I could've saved her — could've done anything except sit there and watch as she died! I was the one Icicle was going for, not her! I should've been the one to die, she hardly deserved it! I SHOULDN'T EVEN BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW, BUT BY SOME TWISTED FATE I AM, AND I HATE MYSELF FOR IT MORE EVERY SECOND!"

Flame — who still lay on his back — was taken aback; shocked; at a loss for words. Is this really what he wanted? Was Crane's death this hard on him? Or was it the dream that brought all of these feelings back after he had finally gotten rid of them?

"...Umber, I-..." Flame tried, but his words were taken before he could speak them.

He stood up, and walked over to Umber, who was sobbing a few feet away from him, and wrapped his wing around him gently. Not hard though like he usually did whenever he wanted him closer, but he tucked his head away from Flame's view regardless.

"Is this what this whole thing is about? You wanted to die in that building, didn't you?" Flame asked sympathetically, his words soft and comforting even for Umber's standard.

"Of course it is!" Umber sobbed. "Sacrificing myself for you was the only way I'd ever be able to make it up to her!" He tried to pull away from his wing, but Flame pulled him back in but tighter this time and he didn't put up much of a fight.

I'm so sorry, Umber, Flame thought.

"I-I had no idea it was that bad… We could've — should've talked about this sooner, but I didn't want to push you. I'm so sorry."

Umber jolted his head around to look at him, nearly smacking him with his snout. "No! Don't apologize to me! This was my choice, not yours! Especially since this was all me in the first place! I don't even know why you'd think that! I should be the one-"

Flame interrupted him by bringing him into a great big hug, tears rolling uncontrollably down his face as his talons clenched his back. Maybe if he just held him enough, he would magically heal as if nothing happened.

"Umber, I can't lose you!" Flame sobbed. "Y-You're the best thing that's ever happened in my life, and everything feels like it's falling apart now that you're gone! Please don't leave, don't you dare fucking rise to that mountain in the sky! Not without me!"

Umber, still crying, wrapped his arms around Flame as well after a few seconds, clutching equally as hard as he realized what he had been putting him through. "I-I'm so sorry…" he apologized. "It was so stupid and selfish of me, and I never stopped to think how you would feel once I was gone!" He buried his face in Flame's shoulder, more tears pouring from his eyes. "I want to live; to be with you! I'm sorry!"

For the next twenty minutes, they lay there, glued to each other unrelentingly and refusing to let go. If it were up to Flame, he would stay in that dream forever, but there was a strange lingering feeling he was desperately trying to ignore. But as time passed, the dream started to get more and more blurry, until he could feel something was wrong.

"U-Umber?" Flame said confusedly as he pushed away. He looked down. At his talons, the white floor visible through his claws.

"Flame? What's happening?! Why are you all clear like that?!" Umber asked in a panic.

"I-I don't know! The dreamvisitor must be stopping or something!" Flame guessed in an equal panic. "I'll dreamvisit as soon as I can, alright? Whatever nightmare you're going through, I'll pull you out of it, I swear!"

He threw himself back around Umber as he prepared to be thrown back into the real world. "I'll be back, I promise!" he said, clutching his eyes shut as he desperately clung onto Umber.

Then, everything went black. For the few seconds he went from unconscious to conscious, he swore he could still smell Umber's faint scent roaming through the air as it tried to find its way back to him.

He jolted his eyes awake, dropping the dreamvisitor on the hospital floor and looked at Umber's bandaged body.

"No! What the fuck happened?!" Flame yelled as he looked back at them all, clutching Umber's talons in his. "Who pulled me out?!

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, and it was obvious they hadn't done anything.

He looked back at Umber's face, and could see a shy tear running down his scales, officially marking the end of their meet.


Author's note: So this chapter was going to get released yesterday, and it was perfectly on track to, except some personal stuff came up Friday and I think I'll be taking a week off to deal with that (this isn't absolute though, so it's possible Healed will be updated next Saturday). Sorry about this!