Everything seemed duller with Umber asleep, doomed to possibly die in his sleep because he wanted to save the dragon he loved. But Turtle said he'd try the spell tomorrow, Clay thought.
The part he left out though, was that he also said that it might not work and that he might be too far gone for any spell to work. He said that with any healing spell, the dragon must have enough energy to actually heal themselves. But in Umber's state, he may not have nearly enough left.
I have to hope though, he thought. As long as I'm optimistic.
Turtle's spell was their last hope — their only hope of him getting through this alive. After all, Umber was the best of all of his sibs. Though he had never met Crane before her death, he could still confidently think this.
He limped his way down the hall, each of his talons stacked with different plates full of food. The food there definitely wasn't amazing by any means, and sometimes he'd go out and buy a few things from the surrounding markets with the little money he brought with him.
But he didn't do that often. Not only because he didn't bring much with him, but walking was also much harder ever since he ran while bringing back the dreamvisitor. He didn't feel it at the time, but it definitely hurt after.
And I'd do it another hundred times over again if it meant seeing him once.
He made sure he left the door open on his way out because feeding four other MudWings definitely involved a lot of carrying. He didn't tell them about his leg though, because he knew they'd go and get everything for him. He didn't want to take another second from them that they could be spending with Umber.
"He has one, maybe two days left," one of the healers said. "You should spend as much time with him as you can right now."
Every time he thought about that memory it made him wince. He begged and begged and begged for those words to disappear from his head, but they never would, and he knew they'd haunt him for the rest of his life.
He pushed open the door to see Marsh, Reed, Sora, and Pheasant all sitting around. Marsh was taking his turn sitting next to Umber — they all couldn't because they were too big. It was his turn next, and he contemplated skipping it so that Pheasant could have her turn sooner.
He made sure to stiffen up his leg and fight through the pain of walking normally once he realized everyones' eyes were on him.
Disappointingly, nobody seemed to get that excited look on their face whenever they saw food as he had hoped. He sighed as he passed out the plates to everyone.
Marsh got some of the dry pancakes that had no syrup in sight, Pheasant got a few oranges and some of the poorly scrambled eggs, Reed got waffles — that still had no syrup —, and some of the breakfast sausages that were no doubt sitting out all morning. He didn't get anything himself, as he hardly had an appetite after hearing the news about Umber.
He sat down against the wall next to Pheasant and sighed in disappointment, tilting his head to look at the floor. He thought happy thoughts about him and Umber and wished he could travel back in time to replay those moments.
Like that one time when he went to visit them all at the Mud Kingdom, and they all played hide and seek. When it was his turn, he searched for Umber for so long that he emerged from the distant mud puddle he was in once he ran out of breath.
Or that other time when they bumped into each other at the Jade Mountain Academy, and he ended up asking him so many questions about what happened during the war that he was five minutes late to teaching.
I wish you were here right now, he thought.
"Clay," Marsh said lowly, interrupting his daydreams. "it's your turn."
"I'll pass. Pheasant can take my turn." He patted her on the back, encouraging her to get up and take his place.
He didn't want anyone to say anything about it because he was hardly in the mood to argue right now. So when everyone turned their heads to look at him with a face of displeasure, all he did was get up and walk over to Marsh. "Alright, alright, fine."
Marsh stood up and shuffled past him before sitting down next to Pheasant, where Clay was sitting before.
Instead of the usual peacefulness on Umber's face, he looks disturbed, deeply disturbed. He wished he could help, but he knew there was nothing he could do. Even if he dreamvisited him right now, he wouldn't be able to pull him out of his nightmare; only Flame could do that.
He knelt down by his bed and stared down at his face. His eyes twitched, slightly shifting his head around, and as he rested his talons on his chest, he could feel his heart racing at the speed of sound. He was half convinced that his heart would blow up right through his chest, it was beating so fast.
Maybe it'll just stop now and he won't have to suffer anymore, he thought. Maybe Turtle's spell won't work, and he'll just end up dying instead.
He wondered if it'd be better for him to die now and not have to suffer anymore. Maybe it'd be better to not even run the risk of him suffering any longer and just have the healers put him out of his misery now. Would he want that?
He rested his head on his chest and closed his eyes, continuing to reminisce on the past. From all the times they played wingball, to the times he went over to his and Flame's house. They were so happy together.
From the few times some of Flame's thoughts slipped through to Moon whenever she had to take the skyfire off, she told him that he loved listening to his heartbeat. It was a reminder to him that Umber was still fighting; that he wasn't giving up; that he was still alive and wiggling his way past death more times than anyone else possibly could.
So he let his ear pick up on the rhythmic thumping of his chest and thought of those things. He hoped they'd bring him some calm in the storm, but it only reminded him of how much Umber is suffering, only adding to the hurricane that was his mind.
But that was all interrupted when he heard a familiar voice that he hadn't heard in weeks call his name.
"Clay?" Umber's voice said weakly.
At first, he thought he was just hallucinating and that his mind was trying to do anything to stop him from breaking out into tears. He couldn't; not in front of all of his sibs. He was their bigwings after all.
But when he looked up, he was met with something that made it feel like fireworks of joy were exploding within him.
He could clearly see that Umber's eyes were wide open and he was staring down at him. He looked slightly confused, eyeing himself up and down as if he hadn't seen himself in forever.
But as much as he wanted to hug him right now, he knew he had to be in some sort of excruciating pain like the healers said he'd be in, and his reflexes kicked in.
"I NEED A HEALER!" he screamed. He looked down at Umber, but he didn't look like he was in any sort of pain. It must just be the shock.
"What's happening?!" Marsh jumped in. He too looked over at Umber to see that he was wide awake.
Everyone else looked over in surprise, all eyes either being on Umber or Clay. "It'll be okay Umber, I'll go get a healer, alright? They'll put you back to sleep, no more pain," he said semi-calmly. He hoped his reassuring words would help, but Umber continued looking at him confusedly.
He jumped to his feet and began rushing over to the door, when he was interrupted by Umber, probably to talk about how much pain he was in. But his words caught him far off guard.
"Clay, stop!" he tried, but his voice was still frail, like a hundred year old dragon on his deathbed. "I'm fine! At least, I think I'm fine."
They all looked around at each other in astonishment. Umber was alive. Umber was awake. Umber was talking to them, in seemingly no pain at all. But he still had his suspicions that he wasn't fully okay. After all, he had just woken up for the first time in weeks like it was nothing.
After a few seconds of silence, Reed finally spoke up. "I think we should get a healer just in case-"
"No!" Umber protested. "They'll put me back to sleep!" He tried saying more, but his voice failed him; only weak attempts managed to escape his mouth and it sounded like he was losing his voice.
Were his dreams really that bad? he thought to himself. How much has Crane's death affected him?
"We won't let them, alright Umber? We just need to make sure you're okay," Pheasant said. She was by his side at this point, grabbing his arm comfortingly.
Overwhelmed with the situation, he knew he had to step out. And he quickly realized that getting Flame was the perfect excuse to leave the situation for a minute. "A-Alright, you all stay here, I'll go get Flame," he said quickly. "I'll be right back!"
And with that, he turned around and sprinted through the door, a mix of joy and confusion running through him.
The hours seemed to pass in seconds as he downed his fifth bottle of beer today, throwing it to the side and watching it clank against the floor with the rest. It had been nearly a week since he left the hospital and the seconds were only ticking away until Umber died.
Everything around him felt like it was twisting and turning, and he knew any attempt at standing up would likely end up in disaster. But he didn't plan on standing up from the couch today, so it didn't matter to him too much.
All of the candles were out, creating a dim excuse of a house; he knew that they would just hurt his eyes, especially with the way he'd been drinking. Not only that, but it was harder for him to daydream in the light. Daydreaming about Umber was the only thing keeping him sane right then.
He took out another bottle from the pack and popped off the cap with his talons, before going to take another swig.
But he was interrupted by a knock at the door, a flood of anger already raging through him. "Flame!" a voice frantically yelled. He immediately recognized the voice as Clay.
"W-Will you go ffuck yourself?!" he yelled, stumbling over his words. "Whatever it is, I d-don't fucking care! LLeave!"
"It's about Umber!" he explained.
Umber. The entire reason I'm like this right now, he thought. He's dead anyways though, so it doesn't matter.
"I don't care! Fuck off!" he retorted as aggressively as he could. "W-Whatever it is, I don't wwanna hear it!"
He felt like going out there and clawing him across the snout, but he knew the second he stood up he'd probably fall over. He knew he wouldn't stop until he came out though, but he wasn't going to open the door one more time for them.
But for the next few minutes, Clay didn't seem to be giving up, even when he ignored him. Just get up, and you won't have to listen to it anymore, he told himself. Scream at him and go back to drinking.
He forced himself up and instantly began stumbling over his talons. He used the table for support some of the way but eventually had to let go of it. It was definitely difficult to navigate over the piles of beer bottles, but he had already made it this far.
"Please just open the door, this is important-" he was cut off by Flame swinging the door open as hard as he could, nearly breaking it off of the hinges.
"WHAT?!" he screamed angrily. The dragonets that were playing before all turned to look. "W-WHAT THE FUCK IS SSO IMPORTANT THAT YOU WON'T LLEAVE ME THE FFFUCK ALONE?! I ALREADY SAID I DON'T WANT T-TO TALK TO YOU ANYMORE, SO WHY WON'T YOU JUST-"
He cut himself off after noticing something strange on Clay's face: he had been crying. But he didn't know exactly why. Clay wasn't one to cry very often, so something must've happened; something that invoked enough hurt to make even him cry.
Something bad happened.
No…
As much as he kept telling himself that Umber was dead already, he would've never prepared himself for the time that Umber actually died. He thought if he told himself that Umber was dead enough, it would be as if he really was. But he wasn't then, and he is now.
"Flame?"
But he was too lost in shock for his words to process. It felt like his entire life had been turned upside down. Pretending he was dead and not having to pretend were two far different things. At least when he was pretending, he could always turn to the thought that he was alive. But when he wasn't, he didn't have anything to comfort him anymore.
He stood there for the next couple of seconds, staring at Clay. He could feel tears threatening to pour down his scales, but he didn't want to do it in front of all of the staring dragonets; he at least had some dignity left.
"So he's really gone, isn't he?"
"What? No-"
But before he could finish whatever he was about to say, he collapsed into Clay uncontrollably. All the tears he was suppressing before immediately began violently falling down his face as he wrapped his arms around his side and buried his head into his stomach, similar to what he did with Sunny. Loud sobs could be heard throughout the street.
"I-I'm going t-to miss him s-so much!" he sobbed. His words were hardly coherent and they all sounded like loud wails.
He thought it was funny how one minute you could be having the best day of your life, spending time with your favorite dragon in the world. And the next, it was all flipped upside down and crumpled into a ball of paper, lost to the wind.
But he was surprised when Clay firmly grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him up straight, staring him dead in the eyes. He had a smile on his face, and he could see he was tearing up. He stuck his head down though, and continued crying into his talons.
"Flame, Umber's alive!" he said. He chuckled a bit under his breath as one of the tears broke free from his eyes. "He's awake right now at the hospital, waiting for you!"
He wiped the tears from his eyes with his talon and looked up at him. "W-What?"
"Umber's awake! He's not sleeping anymore!" The other tear on his other eye dripped down his face, and he was fully crying tears of joy now.
"A-And he's okay?"
"Yes!"
Umber's alive… He's waiting for me at the hospital… He let those words echo in his head for a few seconds before they fully sunk in, and he felt a spark of joy light up in his chest. But how? The healers said he wasn't going to make it.
He didn't dwell on that question too much though, because Umber was alive and he was more excited than ever to see him.
As soon as he could, he pushed past Clay and launched himself into the air. And though he knew flying as fast as he could while drunk probably wasn't the best idea, he didn't care. Any injury he got from flying now would be worth it, even if it just shaved a second off from seeing Umber.
He flapped as fast as he could, and everything around him seemed to twist and turn as he flew. But he was too distracted from thinking about what he'd say to Umber for the first time in weeks. He thought about maybe telling him about everything? Or maybe a simple "I missed you so much!" Or maybe a hug and kiss would suffice?
But one thing kept coming to his mind as he thought it over, and that was "I'm sorry."
After all, he promised he'd dreamvisit him again, and he never did. The guilt of leaving him all alone in his dreams was weighing on him more than ever right now. He was definitely expecting for Umber to be mad at him for it because who wouldn't?
Leaving someone to battle their nightmares alone is not what a good boyfriend did, let alone a good dragon. Which is what I was trying to be before this mess.
He wanted to get mad at himself more, but the hospital was right ahead. He was so excited to talk to Umber again that when he landed, he slammed against the gravel path and skidded for a few feet before getting up and running.
He ran through the empty lobby, through the hallways, and up the stairs, all while stumbling over his talons and falling over. But he kept getting back up, eager to see Umber after all this time.
Finally, he got to Umber's room, which was easy to spot because it was the only room with the door open and dragons all gathered outside.
Once he got closer, he saw that there was a NightWing healer inside asking him questions. They were the only two in there, and he was sitting beside his bed asking him multiple questions. He seemed confused about how he miraculously healed, but Flame didn't really care as much as how more than he did that he did.
He looked past him and saw Umber; his head was poking up and he was audibly responding to him, wide awake.
He swore he felt his heart skip a beat, and couldn't hold himself back from running straight into the room and pushing past the healer.
"Hey, you can't-" the NightWing tried, but he must've recognized him from when he was there before and backed off.
It didn't matter though because whether he said something or not, he was already holding Umber in his arms before he could finish his sentence. He could feel tears flowing down his eyes and he sobbed tears of joy.
"I-I missed you s-so much!" he sobbed as he hugged him tightly. He purposefully avoided any spot with a bandage, just so that he didn't put him through any more pain. Feeling Umber's scales against his made him feel like the pieces of glass that were once shattered, were being mended back together.
"I'm s-so sorry I didn't dreamvisit you again!" He buried his head in his shoulder. "I just c-couldn't stand to look at y-you anymore after the dreamvisit and-"
He felt Umber's talons pat against his back, which only made him cry harder. He knew his apology could be saved for later, so he just continued hugging him and sobbing into his shoulder. This is what I've been missing for so long.
He could tell that this was definitely a lot for Umber, but he knew if he really didn't want to hug him right now, he wouldn't be.
After a minute, Umber pulled away and looked at him dead in the eyes with a smile spread across his face. "We can talk later, alright?" he said in his usual, soothing voice. Except he sounded far weaker than usual. "Let the healer do his jobs and once he's done we can talk."
He looked around in hesitation, about ready to tell him no. But then he remembered it was Umber who was asking, and he obliged. He grabbed his talons in his and said "As soon as he's done, I'll be coming in to see you. This time, I swear to you I will."
The healer moved out of the way for him and he walked past, back out into the hall. He could already hear the healer asking him questions like "Are you okay?" and "Do you feel any pain?" and "Are you sure you don't feel any pain?"
He took a seat closest to the door, just to make sure nothing happened to him while he wasn't looking.
He could hardly believe that he was awake right now; the only thing that could've happened was a miracle. One minute, he was on a hospital bed as he slowly wasted away, constantly being tortured by his nightmares. And the next minute, he was awake and talking as if he was perfectly fine — well, not perfectly fine as he overheard that he was still in pain, but not enough to where he'd want to go back to sleep.
He listened in on the soft grumble of Umber's voice as he spoke, thinking about all the things they'd do from there. He rested his head back and sighed, staring up at the ceiling as he listened to Umber speak. To him, it felt like he finally had his life back, and he couldn't be happier.
As soon as we get home, I'll make him the biggest, most best meal ever, he thought with a moment of excitement. He'll never have to get out of bed again, and we'll never have to go out to eat again.
But there was still one thing digging at the back of his mind. And that one thing was Crane. The one dragon keeping him from truly being happy.
That was something to worry about later though, because right now, he wanted to focus on getting his Umber back.
Nearly a week had passed since he had woken up. And though his burns still hurt, they were definitely healing. And now, he even had enough strength to walk for a few minutes before having to rest for a few more.
Today was the day he was going to be discharged from the hospital, and most of everyone had gone home. Except for Flame, of course, who hadn't left ever since he woke up.
They would've stayed longer, but Turvar was only able to get them there for so long before they would have to pay, and they definitely didn't have the money for that seeing how Flame hadn't been working.
Except for one time, when he left for a couple of hours to go and clean their house for when they got home. He suspected it was because of all the drinking he admitted to doing when Umber was in the hospital.
Even when he hugged him for the first time, he could smell the alcohol on his breath from all the drinking he had been doing. He's better now though, Umber thought. He promised he'd never do it again.
And Flame wasn't the type to break promises, because he'd go above and beyond to make sure of it. The dreamvisit was an exception though, and he thought that anyone would understand that. I can only imagine what he was going through while I was gone.
Though they did talk about some of the things he said to everyone, and he apologized to them all. He promised Umber that he'd work on scenarios of what he'd do if he ever lost him again because the way he acted is the exact opposite of how he'd want him to.
Things like going back to the Healing Center and Crane also came up in that conversation. He quickly turned away from talking about Crane though, and directed the conversation more to him going to the Healing Center to work on those scenarios.
He'd probably make sure I'd have a healer anyways, Umber thought. And probably tell my healer about Crane, too. Even the thought of her name made his heart skip a beat.
He looked over at Flame, who was still laying on his right side facing him as he slept. Flame did this thing where he would wait until he went to sleep just to make sure nothing happened to him, and then he'd go to sleep himself.
But Umber knew he'd probably do something like that. So whenever he was up thinking about his dreams with Crane, he'd make sure to pretend like he was sleeping, and even add in a few snores to really sell the idea.
"Flame, wake up," Umber whispered, but got no response. So he crept out of bed, a devious plan already forming in his head
He slowly twisted himself over, as the feeling of his skin wrinkling and burning wasn't exactly comfortable. The healers told him that most of his scales under the bandages had to be removed to avoid complications, but would grow back eventually.
He imagined he looked like a scavenger underneath his bandages, all brown and naked looking.
He slowly walked over to Flame, making sure that the clacking of his talons remained silent to not wake him up.
He firmly grasped his talons on the covers and pulled them off with as much strength as he could muster without hurting himself.
"Stoppppp," he groaned. He subconsciously put his talons up to his necklace to see if it was still there.
When Qibli and Turtle finally came to the conclusion that the first spell they tried on him worked, but took a while to heal him, they told Flame. And though he was hesitant at first, he let him enchant both of their necklaces to act like an artificial skyfire, and he could give his old one back.
He still didn't fully trust him though, but that wasn't very surprising seeing his history with animus dragons. But at the very least, he wasn't mad at Umber for not telling him — not like he could get mad even if he wanted to.
"Wake up! We're going home soon!" Umber said. "Aren't you happy?"
Flame looked up at him, almost as if he was offended that he'd ever say that. "Of course I'm happy!" he retorted. "I'm…just a little tired is all."
Last night, he could hear his shuffling around in his bed for over an hour before Umber fell asleep and probably stayed up for another hour after that.
"Well, you can go to sleep when we get home. They're expecting us to leave in about twenty minutes."
Flame tilted his head back in annoyance. "Gahh, fine you win, MudWing." And with that, he got up out of bed and began walking toward the door, when he stopped.
"Are you sure you'll be able to walk?" Flame asked, looking back at him. Though Turtle put a healing spell on his necklace, it would only heal his burns and not his snapped wing. So going from place to place would be rather difficult, especially if it was far.
"No, I think you'll have to carry me all the way home," Umber joked. "My weak little legs won't be able to keep up." He slowly walked more toward the door until he was next to Flame.
"Oh very funny, MudWing. Maybe I'll just drop you and leave you here, and they can take care of you from now on." He twisted the knob and they walked through the door and began down the hall slowly.
"Right? The food here is amazing! I think you might have some competition on your talons," he snickered.
They continued walking through the hospital and out through the lobby, where the dragon at the front desk stopped them. All she did though was give them a few tubes of ointment and some big rolls of bandage. She said to rub it on his skin to avoid infection whenever he changed his bandages, which should be once every two days.
So they continued through the door and out onto the gravel path. Sunlight, real sunlight for the first time in a month.
He could stay out here forever; the sunlight beaming against his scales made him feel energized. Now all he needed was some mud though, and he'd feel back to his old self. Well, almost.
The walk back home was about twenty minutes — that was if they were walking at a normal speed, but they weren't, so it'd probably take them at least thirty minutes without breaks.
But they pushed on and walked and walked, periodically stopping to rest at benches and a food stand to eat something decent for the first time in forever.
But after an exhausting forty minutes, they finally got to their street, and soon their house. Seeing their house for the first time in so long felt surreal; all that he was used to was the same walls, with the same hallway, and the same lobby.
All while eating the same stale food that he was somehow getting used to. But he was hoping that Flame would make him one of his special recipes after so long. Because after all, it was something to celebrate — him getting home that was.
They walked up the few steps leading to their door, and he felt an excited feeling dancing around in his chest. Like a leaf being blown in the wind, bouncing off of the walls that were his chest and back.
Without giving him a moment to feel that excitement fully though, Flame opened the door and the familiar scent of their home came rushing toward him. From the squeaky clean floors to the perfectly made couch, and the way everything was organized and set up, he finally felt like he was at home.
It was almost like it was when they first moved in, except all of the furniture was already in place and he was covered head to talon in bandages.
"We're finally home," Umber mused. "I thought I'd never see this place again."
"I thought I'd never see us here again," Flame said. He walked in further and sat down on the couch, opening his wing like he usually did whenever they were going to cuddle.
He jumped at the opportunity, moving as fast as he could without hurting himself and jumping on the couch beside him. Though he had to sit in a way that let his broken wing rest, it was still pretty close to how they usually did it.
They hadn't been able to properly cuddle in a while, or even sleep in the same bed at that. So being able to finally fall asleep next to him felt like a dream come true. My dreams weren't exactly the good kind though…
But he pushed that thought aside, just like he had been doing all week because spending time with Flame was his priority right now. Anything could take either one of them away as easily as that, so from now on, he was going to jump at every opportunity to spend time with Flame.
But if something takes me away before him, I hope he doesn't freak out about it.
Flame's wing closed around him like a warm blanket, and he rested his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes. The walk here already exhausted him enough, and he felt about ready to fall asleep.
Then he felt the same feeling he'd been longing to feel again, and that feeling was the feeling of Flame's talons gently caressing his back.
The hard part was over, and now all he needed to do was recover.
And he finally felt home.
For the first time in over a month, he felt home.
Author's note: I'M SO HAPPY TO FINALLY BE WRITING WHOLESOME FLUMBER AGAIN! Also no, this is not the end of Healed 2, and we're actually only about halfway through the whole story. I'm finally getting that same excited feeling I got before when writing Flumber at the start because writing Flame always sad and emo and angry was really getting to me haha.
