Flame groggily opened his eyes as his head rested on Umber — as usual. Immediately though, he was blinded by the bright summer light shining through the window and lighting the room up like a candle — no, brighter than a candle, it was more like a million.

He rarely ever slept in the other bed. Sometimes he would sleep in the chair that the RainWing left in the room — which he did not think was intentional — or fall asleep at the side or end of Umber's bed.

Only when his neck and back especially hurt from the hunched over position did he ever sleep in his, and even then he'd look over at Umber and stay up imagining that he would just wake up and his burns would he fine, and there would be no scar — actually, fuck the scar, as long as he was alive.

Sometimes, he was too exhausted (mentally and physically) at the end of the day to even get in bed in the first place, even though he sat around all day and did nothing. Recently, it was even difficult for him to get up in the morning, and Umber's scent definitely didn't help either.

One day at a time, is what he told himself.

He raised his talons up in front of his face, exhausted, especially after yesterday. It was bright and sunny outside, which was ironic because bright and sunny was the exact opposite of how he was feeling right now; it was more dark and cloudy, with a bit of a thunderstorm — no — hurricane for him.

He looked around at the empty room, reminiscing about the dreamvisit he had with Umber yesterday.

After he had been thrown out of the dreamvisit, Clay used it next, then Moon, Kinkajou, Qibli, Sora, Turtle, Jet, Turvar, Zephyr, and finally, Peril, which Turtle had to enchant the dreamvisitor to not melt in her talons. The only reason he even allowedhim to do that in the first place was because the others forced him to let him dreamvisit, and all of the spells he would ever needto cast would've been cast right then and there.

Though, everyone did seem a little happier afterward, even Turtle.

It didn't look like an act, or a façade, and he even slightly squinted his eyes while he was smiling after he came back from the dream, which Umber taught him that meant it was genuine.

Maybe he doesn't want to hurt us? Flame wondered. Regardless, he still has a plan!

The whole thing took most of the day, Peril only getting her turn at sunset. Flame planned on asking Clay to dreamvisit again today, because talking to Umber yesterday was the only time he had truly been happy in the last week.

Especially now that I know what happened in the war, Flame thought. If only he had told me sooner, we could've worked through it and maybe he wouldn't be trapped in nightmares about it…

He looked up at Umber's face and wondered what he was dreaming about. Was it another nightmare? Or maybe a peaceful dream? Maybe his mind was tricking him into thinking that he was dreamvisiting him right now, and telling him horrible things that Flame had no control over.

He felt so bad for him, and just wanted to hug him until he couldn't anymore just for even a chance that his mind would realize it was him and change his dreams for the better.

The image of the pure shock on Crane's face as Icicle slid her talon across her throat still plagued his mind, and there was no cure in Pyrrhia. He could only imagine how Umber felt watching it in person.

Watching Chromis die in such a violent and cruel way would probably do something similar to him, except there would be a lot more slashing and fire than running.

And Umber thinks he should've been the one to die, Flame thought

"We think that his chances to live are slim," the healer's voice whispered in his head, sending a shiver trickling its way down his spine. All of the thoughts about Chromis immediately vanished.

No, that won't happen, Flame tried, though somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew what was going to probably happen.

"You won't die on me, right Umber?" Flame whispered, half expecting for him to open his eyes and say something. "You won't. You wouldn't!" He turned away, a tear sliding down his face. "You'll wake up, and we can both go home, I just know it!"

But with or without his consent, his mind started wandering through the endless passages and twists and turns that were the two possibilities: Umber lives, or he dies and Flame's left to rot with nobody to hold their talons in his.

No…don't you dare leave here alone! he thought with a stab of fear.

But he's going to, the back of his mind whispered, a voice that he's been hearing constantly ever since Umber went under. He couldn't stop it no matter how hard he tried, and it always said something that made his gut wrench.

He looked down at Umber, his burnt scales slightly showing along the edges of the white bandage. The blackness looked horrible, enough to make him want to gag.

But he couldn't stop looking, and as the seconds went on, a revelation stabbed him in the heart, hard enough to shatter his soul.

He's going to die… Flame realized with a stab of panic. He's going to die in this shitty hospital room, reliving some of the worst moments of his life without me by his side.

This thought changed everything, and it felt like his world had been shattered even more than before; it was like someone picked up the pieces of glass and chipped away at them with their talons, until they were nothing but dust, then blew them in the wind.

As he looked at the walls, he didn't even feel like he was in the same room anymore, or even the same world. Umber was his world, and the little bit of hope he had been desperately clinging onto, no matter what happened, was just ripped away.

He was lost, shattered, and hopeless.

He liked to imagine that he and Umber would live a long, happy life together, and whoever was lost first would die squeezing the other's talons as tight as they possibly could, in hopes to remember them in the afterlife, and the other would live on until they died and then they would lay together in the mountain past the clouds forever.

He rested his head on Umber's chest, trying to calm himself down with reassurance that he was still alive, but it didn't have nearly the same effect as before and he just ended up soaking the bandage in tears.

For the next few minutes, he sobbed loudly into Umber's chest, reminiscing about the fun times they had together. Like the one time they went to the beach and Umber challenged him to a breath holding competition, which he obviously destroyed Flame in

Or the other time when Umber tried to cook one of Flame's recipe's and just ended up lighting the pan on fire, and ruined the pan and the dish.

Each tiny little memory was a bittersweet reminder of what he was about to lose — what he didn't know he could live without until now. But now he did know, and the feeling was almost excruciating. To look at Umber on his deathbed made him want to stay by his side for the rest of eternity.

"I-I'm going to miss you s-so much, Umber," Flame sobbed quietly, breaths of air being scarce as his chest uncontrollably contracted.

His head began pounding, the pain becoming nearly excruciating, but that didn't stop him from crying — in fact, it made him cry even harder because a lousy headache was all he got, while Umber is currently dying in a shitty hospital bed, in a shitty room, surrounded by shitty dragons.

"Flame?" a voice behind him called, followed by the sounds of the door closing behind them. Their voice was filled with concern, and by the way their voice shook a bit, he could tell that they were slightly scared. "Are you okay?" They rushed over to him and placed their talon on his arm.

Their scales were red, and their voice was high pitched. He looked back to see Zephyr staring back at him, her expression full of worry.

He tried to open his mouth, but all that came out was another loud sob. After a minute of trying to gather himself, he gained the strength to speak. "Um-Umber's g-going to d-die!" Flame cried, his voice's shakiness constantly interrupting him. "I-I can't l-lose h-him!"

He felt Zephyr's talons rub against his back comfortingly. "...Hey, I know we haven't had a chance to talk yet, and it seems like you're struggling a lot with this, so how about we talk now?" she said in a soothing, calm voice, one similar to Umber's in a way.

The first thing he wanted to tell her was "Fuck off", but he caught his breath, remembering everything Umber told him, and Starf taught him about talking.

Even though he didn't know Zephyr like Sora or Jet did, he already found himself nodding his head in agreement. The added shaking made even more tears fall down his cheeks like a waterfall, some even making their way onto the blanket.

She sat down beside Flame, their scales making contact, creating a tender warmth between them. And because she was much bigger than he was (being an older dragon and all), she towered over him and could probably lean all the way across Umber without ever trying.

"Tell me about Umber," Zephyr suggested softly. "Tell me about a few things you've done together. Like something fun, or maybe some happy moments you've had with him." Though, he thought that this was stupid, because what would telling her about Umber do anyways?

Regardless, he assumed she knew how to do her job, and do it well seeing how she was the one in charge of the whole Healing Center.

So, he thought back to another happy memory, something he's been doing ever since he first got here: reminiscing… Constantly reminiscing.

"T-There was th-this one t-tme w-when me a-and Um-Umber went to t-this is-island," Flame explained.

He could still remember the way Umber laid down next to him in the grass as they stared at the sunset, their talons and tails intertwined all the while. All from the way he cuddled his head on his chest, to the way he smiled all reminded him of how happy they used to be.

"What island was it?" Zephyr asked. "What did you two do there?"

"I-It was…uh…P-Prince Egret Is-Island," Flame sniffled. "W-We spent th-the night t-there."

He couldn't help but delve deeper into that memory. He closed his eyes, imagining the buzzing of the insects, the cold night air against his scales, and of course, Umber's warmth as he rested his head on his chest. Flame had his wings wrapped around them both, acting as a nice blanket to keep them both warm.

"The sky is so pretty tonight," Umber said lightly, pointing to the stars in the sky. It looked like a million different colored fireflies were buzzing around them, showing off their pretty bright light. "No wonder you like this place so much."

"Well, it's where I hatched, after all," Flame responded, resting his head beside Umber's.

"Oh, I've heard of that place, I've been told it's beautiful," Zephyr explained. "Is that why you like it so much? Or is it because of another reason?"

"N-No, I hatched t-there," Flame informed. "B-Before my m-mom took me b-back to t-the Talons O-Of Peace."

"You're so lucky to have been hatched in such a nice place like this," Umber said. "I was hatched in a mud puddle." Though, he was saying it like not every MudWing enjoyed a nice mud bath.

"Hey, it's not my fault I wasn't immediately born into filth," Flame said playfully. "How do MudWings enjoy mud by the way? Whenever I even get a drop of it on me, I feel so dirty."

"Flame, we both know the only reason you're half clean right now is because you accidentally fell in the river," Umber said jokingly, "I wouldn't be surprised if I caught you taking a mud bath while we're here."

"Blah, blah, blah, MudWing," Flame booed. "I always take baths!"

"Sureeee you do." Umber snuggled closer, a bigger smile forming on his face as he closed his eyes. Flame pulled his wing in tighter, as if he was tucking him in goodnight.

"I see," Zephyr said. "So, how long ago did you two do this? Was it back at the Healing Center, or when you moved away?"

"I-It was, uhm…"

"Hey, Flame," Umber whispered, perking his head up to look at him.

"Uh…"

"Yeah, MudWing?" Flame whispered back.

"It was…"

"I love you, you know that, right?" Umber asked reassuringly.

"Something wrong?" Zephyr asked.

"Of course I do!" Flame said, almost as if he had taken offense to such a statement. "And I love you, too."

"N-No- it's j-just…"

"Well, how about you prove it to me then?" Umber looked up at him with a smile, his face almost too hard to resist.

Looking down at him, he felt the same fire spark and light up, the same one that began smoldering ever since the day they met, and he shot the same smile back.

"I-I…"

Graciously, they both leaned in, before the short distance between their snouts closed, and their lips met. The stars shone brightly and the crickets chirped beautifully in the background, making for the perfect background noise as they kissed under the stars.

And the familiar shock he felt whenever he and Umber kissed zipped through him in that moment, immediately bringing him back to the reality of the situation instead of dwelling on the past.

He looked back down at Umber, the sight instantly sending another wave of shock through him. It was as if he half expected Umber to be staring back up at him, ready to repeat that memory in his head.

And it hurt — it hurt that he knew that he would probably never make another memory like that with him again.

Everytime he looked down at Umber, all he felt was pain. He had gotten so used to it over the last week that he could hardly even tell that it was there anymore. Bringing himself back to the past made him forget what it was like to be in this hospital room, so now that he had a taste of what it was like before, it became unbearable.

I can't stay here… Flame realized.

I can't stay here, I can't stay here, I can't stay here, I can't stay here, echoed a million times in his head.

"I have to go!" Flame exclaimed, jolting up and knocking Zephyr's talons away. He could feel his talons already shaking, and his heart beginning to pound as adrenaline pumped throughout his entire body.

He immediately began heading for the door, when he heard Zephyr yell back. "Hey, wait! What happened? What's wrong?" she tried, though it was no use as her voice was already muffled by the door as he slammed it behind him.

As he entered the hall, he could see Turtle and Kinkajou were sitting next to each other in a couple of chairs in the hall. They looked like they were both talking about something; something that obviously made them both smile before being interrupted by a slamming door.

He turned the other way and sprinted down the hall, the only thing on his mind being what he's going to do without Umber, followed by the panic of his newfound realization. He heard the door creak open behind him.

"Flame!" Zephyr yelled from down the hall, but he just kept running, knowing that he couldn't stand another second in that room.

The shakiness of his legs made him feel like he was going to fall over any second now, but the adrenaline pumping through him was enough to keep him going. He could hear Zephyr's talons clacking against the floor behind him as he ran.

Finally, after running down many flights of stairs, he slammed into the door that led to the lobby and nearly broke them off of the hinges. There, he saw the rest of everyone, though Clay was missing but he assumed that he was probably in the snack bar or something.

Turvar definitely caught his eye too, as the white bandages around his wings were completely gone now, and he had a few noticeable scars like polka dots scattered around each of his wings.

There were a few other dragons in the waiting room: a few NightWings, SeaWings, and a SkyWing — who was working the front desk.

He looked behind him to see Turtle, Kinkajou, and Zephyr all chasing close behind him, before looking back to see the other's eyes already on him as well.

"Flame?" Qibli asked confusedly. "Hey, hey, what happened? Why are you running?" he tried, though it was no use because he had already made his way fully through the lobby and over to the door.

He put his talons on the handle and began pushing it, freedom mere inches away. He was sure he would be able to outfly them all. Besides, what were they going to do? Tackle him out of the sky? Break into his house? They wouldn't do that!

But something stopped him as he was seconds away from running through the door. He felt a talon grip his free arm tightly, as if whoever was doing it was trying to keep him still. "Flame! What happened?"

As he turned his head back to see who it was, his eyes landed on something that sent even more panic than before running through him. Turtle had made talon-to-scale contact with him, and he swore he could feel a tingle on his scales right where Turtle's talons made contact.

Almost like a reflex, he whipped his whole body around and clawed Turtle right across his face as hard as he possibly could, ensuring that whatever spell he was about to cast on him didn't go through — the claw was more of a punch or slap though, but his claws definitely scratched him.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" Flame yelled mid claw.

Turtle stumbled to the side, struggling to keep his balance. He looked around one last time to see everyone's eyes in the lobby staring at him in shock. A few of them gasped, but all of their jaws were dropped in disbelief.

But he didn't stay to see the result of what he had just done, and instead bolted out through the door and shot himself into the air.

The feeling of sunlight against his scales was something he hadn't felt in a while, as he was either in Umber's room, or downstairs getting something to eat every couple days — and even those trips scared him, as he was worried something might happen while he was gone.

The wind against his wings felt good; too good for what he was feeling like right now. Flying would always help him calm down, but not now, and maybe not again for a long time.

He looked back at the hospital one last time, heartaches sending tiny shockwaves of pain across his chest and arms, as if Turvar was blasting him in the heart a thousand times a second.

Goodbye, Umber, Flame thought, a lowly tear dripping down his face. I promise that I'll never, ever forget you.


Turtle stumbled as he resisted the urge to black out, constantly tripping over his talons and begging them to stay glued to the floor. His other talons habitually gripped the part on his face where Flame had tried to claw him, even though he very well knew there was nothing there.

Flame had hit him hard, and even though his scales couldn't be penetrated by anything, a hard smack across the face could still give him a massive headache, or even knock him out.

He thought that maybe Flame had changed ever since Umber came into his life, who wouldn't? Umber was one of the most pure, kind dragons he had ever met. A dragon who was even able to change Flame: a dragon the exact opposite of Umber.

He's just going through a lot… Turtle told himself time and time again. Everytime Flame yelled and screamed and said the meanest things a dragon could say to another, he would always round it up to him hurting. Though, he never thought he'd gotten to the point where he'd strike someone else like this.

And right as he felt himself begin to trip and fall, Kinkajou quickly ran over and grabbed his arm, stabilizing him before he hit the ground.

And as his senses came back to him, he started feeling each throb of his inevitable headache.

"Turtle, are you okay?!" Kinkajou asked frantically, her scales mostly white with tiny splotches of black scattered around at seemingly random.

Other dragons including Zephyr, Moon, Qibli, a NightWing, and SeaWing all surrounded him. Jet, Sora, and Turvar all stayed in their seats in shock.

Clay was outside with Peril, sleeping up on the hill as they hadn't had much time to spend together ever since they arrived at the hospital. He wished that he could enchant Peril's scales to not set the place on fire, but the others would definitely know something was up.

"I'll go get an ice pack!" The SkyWing at the front desk said as she hurried through a door he assumed led to a room in the back.

"Move your talons," Kinkajou asked, trying to bump his talons out of the way gently.

Even though they both knew that there wouldn't be anything there, he obliged as his head was already hurting enough — though, it was bearable, he just had to sit down for a few minutes and wait for it to go away.

After a few seconds of her inspecting his scales, she came to the conclusion that he was fine.

"I swear to the moons the next time I see him, I'm going to get the biggest papaya I can find and shove it up his nose!" Kinkajou exclaimed. The black spots on her scales began overtaking the white.

"H-Hey, Kinkajou, calm down," Turtle groaned as he gripped his head. "He's just going through a lot." They both began walking over to one of the seats in the bottom right corner of the room, next to the glass door.

"That doesn't excuse that though!" Kinkajou argued. "Just because you're hurting doesn't give you the right to try and slash your friend across the face!"

Every yell that came from her only made his head hurt worse. "Shhhh," Turtle shushed as another wave of pain went through his head, and Kinkajou obviously got the message by the way she lowered her voice.

Turtle sat down at the seat furthest from the door, and Kinkajou sat next to him. The others all sat down near him, shooting him concerned looks as if he was seconds away from passing out. Though, he definitely was a few minutes ago.

Then, the SkyWing behind the desk came out from the back room, holding a makeshift ice pack in her talons.

She walked over to Turtle and handed him a plastic bag full of some crushed ice. "Here, this should help," she said.

The bag was cold, and even colder as he pressed it against his head. It took him a couple seconds to adjust to it, but once he was, his head began feeling a lot better.

"Thank you," he thanked. She nodded and sat back down at her desk.

And for the next few minutes, they sat there in silence as he waited for his headache to go away. The SkyWing at the front desk looked at him every few seconds, just to make sure he was okay.

The silence was definitely awkward, as nobody wanted to talk about what just happened. They just stared at either the floor, Turtle, or the wall.

He assumed it was because everyone was just trying to process it all, but he suspected that they were just in shock, not knowing that Flame was capable of that anymore.

Umber really took a toll on him, Turtle thought. He's not going to die though, not on my talons he won't!

He had been constantly thinking about a new spell ever since the last one didn't work, and he would brainstorm it with Qibli for hours.

And this spell was going to work, no matter how many hours it takes for him to get it just right. Just a little longer, Umber. Just hold on a little longer.

And as he began thinking more and more about his spell, his headache noticeably began going away, and he took the ice pack away from his head and set it down on the floor. Strangely, a weird excitement filled him as he began untangling the complicated knot that this spell was, thinking of solutions to most of the questions. All except one: will it work?

"Turtle, are you okay?" Kinkajou asked as she was obviously concerned, breaking his train of thought almost instantly. "Any dizziness or anything like that?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Turtle confirmed. "Just thinking of the spell," he whispered, looking around to check if any other dragons heard him. Nobody was paying much mind to him anymore, and the dragons from before moved back to their seats on the opposite side of the room.

There was a pause of silence. "...You know, you don't have to always be thinking about it," Kinkajou said. "You just got hit, diamond scales or not, that's going to hurt. Maybe you should take a break."

He knew that Kinkajou would say something like that, but he also knew that Umber didn't have forever; and neither did Flame, as feared he might hurt himself someway if Umber did die, let alone how much happier he would be if – once Umber wakes up.

"Kinkajou, Umber doesn't have much time left," Turtle said painfully, even the mention of it sending another jolt of fear through him. "Let alone Flame, I hate seeing him like this. Ever since he met Umber, he's been so happy, and I don't want to see him go back to how he used to be."

She sighed. "Relationships do that I guess, but I think you're right. Just don't be too hard on yourself over this, alright?"

Relationships… Turtle thought as he looked down at the floor, a heartache blindsiding him. If only Anemone didn't put that love spell on her, then maybe-…maybe things would be different… Though, he didn't blame her, as he knew she was only trying to help him the only way she knew how.

Obviously, Kinkajou recognized the look on his face, as relationships were a tough subject between the two of them. "Hey, Turtle," she said comfortingly, putting her talons on his back, even her touch being a nice distraction. "I do like you, It's just I think we should take things slow for now; see where things go, you know?"

"Yeah, Yeah, I know," Turtle agreed, his voice low. Even her saying she liked him back meant little to him anymore.

Every time he got like this, she would always say something similar to that, usually along the lines of "Turtle, I really like you, but it's just difficult right now," or "I like you a lot Turtle, but I'm still just a bit confused after that love spell. Maybe one day you'll find another great dragon if things don't work out between us."

But he didn't want "another dragon", he wanted her, and she wanted him, but she also didn't at the same time, which complicated things a hundred times over.

"...Maybe I wouldn't mind a date though, you know, once this whole mess is over," were the words that immediately sent a shockwave of happiness through him, his mood lifted in the snap of his talons.

He jolted his head up and turned toward her. Though he tried to hide his joy, he could tell that it was obviously slipping through by the way Kinkajou grinned at him. "Really? Are you sure?" he asked, really hoping she would stick to it.

"Well, I mean, yeah," Kinkajou said hesitantly. "Maybe the reason I'm still crushing on you, even after two years of being spell free, means they might be real and not the work of magic." Her scales turned a bright pink as her grin turned into a smile.

"When are we- uh, oh right, once Umber I heal Umber. What should we do though? I-I mean, should we go out to eat or something? Or go to the rainforest? Or…" Turtle trailed off. "Erm, we should probably save the planning for later."

He felt his face get a little hot in embarrassment, and he could already tell he was blushing just by the helpless smile that formed on his face.

Kinkajou laughed. "Yeah, that'll probably come after."

He looked into her eyes as they sparkled a hot pink, and glimmered relentlessly by the few candles that shone in the room. He felt an even bigger smile form across his face, and no matter how hard he tried to hide it, he couldn't; he was just too filled with joy of the proposal she had given him.

After a few seconds of this, he leaned back in his chair, his mind already wandering on what they would do for their date. Because after all, he wanted to make it as best he could for her so that he'd have the best shot of them being together.

It's what he's wanted for years, and now that he finally had the opportunity, he wasn't going to let it slip from under his talons.

But first, I have to heal Umber.


Author's note: Another 2 week upload, sorry! Though, I think that's probably better than the bad news I'll be giving.

I'll be taking a break for a little while, as there are things currently going on in my personal life right now. I don't know when exactly I'll be back, and I've been trying to consistently upload ever since they started on the 24th, but it's been hard. Also, my laptop broke a couple days ago which also contributes to the reason.

What does this mean? This just means I'll be taking a break for now, but do expect Healed to start again within at least 2 months (this is worst case scenario though, I might start working on Healed again by the end of the month, if not sooner. Don't expect anything though, as it's not 100%).

But yeah, Healed will 100% be coming back, so don't worry about that haha! I'm just taking a mental health break for now.

PS: I love Turtlejou.