Flame opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling in their house to what sounded like knocking at their front door. And though whoever was knocking would have to start screaming his name to wake him up, he was especially alert ever since he ran away from Umber.
Who is it now? Flame wondered. Everyone already went home three days ago! Maybe it's mom, she's probably back to check on Umber again.
The day after they arrived home, Avalanche essentially let herself in unannounced to see Umber. And when he was about ready to get mad at her for it and yell, he looked over at Umber who was fast asleep on the couch. So him not wanting to wake him up, tried as hard as he could to give off the same message with just his eyes.
But before he could remember that, he looked over to check on Umber. Since they thought that he was surely going to die, they didn't pay much attention to his wing. But now that he was alive, he couldn't extend it at all, which made sleeping on his back rather difficult sometimes.
And that meant no more covering him with his wing when they slept — at least for now, that was. Because as soon as he recovered, he was going to pull him close and wrap him up like a burrito in his wings.
He looked peaceful when he slept; almost like a newborn dragonet taking its first steps out from its egg, before flopping down on the floor and falling asleep in fresh, goopy placenta. Gross.
At least, that's exactly what Chromis did when he first hatched. Though his mother never told him what he did when he first hatched, he knew it had to be something along the lines of trying to set everything on fire.
Often, he wondered what would've happened if neither of the spells worked. Would he be dead right now, somewhere up high on that mountain forever looking down on him — literally and metaphorically —, or would he have recovered on his own?
It wasn't in his best interest to think about all of that though because it only intensified his anxiety. He realized thinking about the what-ifs was useless and only brought him more fear, because Umber didn't die, and Turtle had saved him. At least, that's always what he told himself, Turtle at least deserved that.
As his vision came forth, he could now see that the bandages were slowly slipping off, and his burnt pinkish-brown skin was showing underneath — he definitely needed to practice his wrapping skills. But it was perfect timing though, because he had to get them changed that day anyway.
Strangely, seeing Umber's skin underneath didn't give him as visceral of a reaction as it would have if he had seen it a month ago. Maybe it was because he was learning to be less protective and reliant on him? Or maybe he was just happy to have him back.
"Umber," Flame said happily, slowly shaking him awake. "someone's at the door, I'll be right back."
"What?" he yawned, his words slow and drowsy. "Oh, alright…" And just like that, he already had his head buried back into his pillow, just about fast asleep again. Healing must be exhausting.
He kissed him on the cheek before standing up and starting to the front door. Through their bedroom door, living room, and finally, swinging the door open.
Mostly, he expected for his mother to be there with Chromis and Shrimp to check up on them after the accident, as only Avalanche had come to visit; or maybe even Turvar showing up out of nowhere to do the same. And possibly even the four of them showing up at the same time.
But what he saw instead rose far beyond what he'd expected, and that was to see everyone standing at his front door. Moon, Qibli, Kinkajou, Turtle, Peril — who was standing far away from anything flammable —, Zephyr, Jet, Sora, Marsh, Pheasant, Reed, Clay, Avalanche, Chromis, and Shrimp, they were all standing right in front of him with a big smile on their faces. Avalanche, Chromis, and Shrimp were in the front staring him down.
Chromis looked especially happy and jumpy today from the way he was energetically bouncing from talon to talon impatiently.
What the hell are they all doing here? he wondered. Though he didn't hate most of them — mostly —, he still wanted to keep his distance from them for now, especially Turtle.
Moon wasn't too big of an issue though, because Turtle claimed to have enchanted his necklace to act like a 'skyfire', whatever that was — they didn't exactly explain it too much, other than it blocked her mind reading. From the tests he did to see if she could still read his mind, it checked out.
"Flame!" Avalanche said excitedly. "How's Umber? Is he okay?" she quickly added.
"He's sleeping," Flame responded. "Also, what the hell — uh, I mean — heck is all of this?" He looked down at Chromis who hadn't seemed to notice what he said. He was more focused on whatever exciting thing Avalanche told him by mistake to get him like that.
"He's asleep? That's perfect!" Avalanche pulled out a map that she had tucked in her wing, before rolling it out. "Alright, so tomorrow, we're planning a surprise party for him, and we wanted to see if-"
"A party?" he interrupted. "Why am I just hearing about this now, the day before?"
He looked her up and down. She seemed almost as excited for this as Chromis did. But How long had they known? And why hadn't they told him sooner? It's not like you can just come along and tell someone that they're planning a surprise party for their injured boyfriend who can hardly walk for ten minutes. Not only that, but they even pulled out a map!
"We hardly just started setting it up!" she explained. "It was only a couple of days ago when they came up with the idea. We have a special chair being made for him to sit in and everything already." He assumed she was referring to Umber's winglet. Of course.
He looked around at everyone and contemplated even telling Umber. He didn't want to be around them, especially not right now. But he shoved that thought aside, realizing this isn't about me though, this is about Umber! Just because you don't like them doesn't mean you can keep Umber from enjoying himself, he told himself.
"Alright," he reluctantly agreed. "I'll ask him when he wakes up. But if he doesn't want to go, then I'm not going to force him to." He knew Umber would more than likely want to go though, so he hoped the place wasn't too far from their house.
"Of course, of course, just don't tell him it's a party." She turned the map so that Flame could clearly see it. "Alright, so here is where the party is going to be." Her talons brushed along the ink map of the Sky Kingdom, over to a nearby beach. It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes away, but he knew it would take much longer to walk over there with Umber.
But as he mentally mapped out the fastest and easiest way to get there, he heard the familiar sound of the floorboards in their bedroom creaking. The same sound he was used to hearing right before someone came out. Uh oh.
Like a reflex, he closed the door. He did it quickly, but also soft enough to where it wasn't loud enough to the point where it sounded like a slam.
"Who's at the door?" Umber asked drowsily, rubbing his eyes with his talons and yawning. His bandages seemed like they were falling off more than ever now. It looked like an old mummy whose wraps had been put on by a bunch of blind dragonets; thrown on there — hardly securely — and called it a day.
"Uhm- it was just the…maildragon?" He paused, unsure if the lie was believable enough. "Y-Yeah, it was the maildragon. He got the wrong house." He made sure to say it loud enough so that everyone outside could hear it, just so his mother didn't think he slammed the door in her face or anything.
"Oh, I could've sworn I heard your mom talking."
"Yeah, he just had a…a very feminine voice."
"Oof, that must be a little embarrassing. Talking to dragons and having them mistake you for a girl doesn't sound like fun."
"Yeah, probably not fun…" He could see him stumbling as he walked, which gave him the perfect opportunity to steer the subject away from whoever was at the door. "Hey, why don't you sit down? Your bandages need to be replaced anyway."
He looked down at the bandages and made the same observation Flame had, and picked up one of the loose ends. "Huh, I guess they do," he said before sitting on the couch.
He walked into their bedroom and rummaged through his nightstand for a few seconds before pulling out a large roll of bandages and a big tube of some sort of strange antibiotic cream stuff. Usually, he went through at least half of the tube when rubbing it on him.
The cream was a strange yellow color, but — like most medicines — it was probably from the rainforest, so it was likely loaded with strange fruits. Queen Glory usually sent them out to other kingdoms for free because they didn't have much of a use for money — they already had everything they would ever need there.
He did think that two days was a little too long to have bandages around someone; anytime he needed bandages, he was told to change them at least twice a day. But he suspected it had something to do with the cream.
He walked back out into their living room and saw that Umber was already unwrapping his bandages, showing his destroyed — but not charred — pink skin underneath.
Umber had already been sitting on a pillow at the edge of the couch, so he took the spot next to him. All the pillow did was slightly lift him up so that it was easier to wrap the bandages around his torso, chest, and some of his right arm.
"Let me," Flame said carefully. He took the bandages and carefully began unwrapping them, revealing more of his skin.
It pained him to see Umber like this; just because he didn't get angry didn't mean it didn't hurt seeing him without his bandages on.
But he knew from here on, their already unbreakable connection had strengthened even more. It was like a million threads of steel woven tightly and mended together with hot SkyWing fire. And the only thing that could break that would have to be something a hundred times as powerful as the blast that saved them both from the fiery inferno in the first place.
Once he finished unwrapping the bandages, they were all sprawled out along the wooden floor, contrasting horribly with the rest of their house.
"Sooooo, Umber," Flame said awkwardly, breaking the thin thread of silence in the room. He squeezed some of the cream out on his talons and began carefully rubbing it on Umber, who winced at the slight stinging. "I have a surprise for you tomorrow. It's a little far out, but if you're willing to walk then we can go, but it's fine if-"
"A surprise?" he said excitedly, though it was more of a question than a joyful declaration. "What is it? Is it a party? Is it a present? An anniversary present maybe? Oh! Is it food? Can it be food?" Which was exactly the reaction he was expecting.
As of recently, being near his winglet was the least of his interests, but seeing Umber excited like that gave him a strange giddy excitement feeling inside. It made him finally remember that everything Umber wanted to do he wanted to do as well.
And at least the party wouldn't be totally horrible though; it's not like he had to talk to anyone or do anything with any of them. He could just sit next to Umber and watch them and wrap him up in his wing — which is what should've happened on their anniversary.
"No spoilers," Flame said. He wiped his talons with some nearby tissue before wrapping the first layer of bandage around his waist. "If I told you, then it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it?"
Umber looked up at him and used the face and tone of voice Chromis often used to beg for something. "Pleeease? Just a hint?"
But he kept his face rock solid and wasn't going to give in. Not even when the most handsome dragon in Pyrrhia was asking — begging him. "Sorry, can't tell you yet," he said in his best life-is-tough tone. He and Umber would know that better than anyone right now.
He continued wrapping him up, more and more of the roll plastering itself against the strange yellow cream. Until half of his body looked completely mummified, and he ripped it away from the roll with his teeth.
"All done." He set the bandage down on the table, ready to be used for later.
"Already? Have you been practicing on yourself without me knowing?" He looked down and studied all of the bandages on his body, before standing up and walking around to test if they were secure.
And sure enough, they were better than last time. Whoever did them at the hospital must've been doing it for years to do it. Whenever the SkyWing would come in to change his bandages from time to time at the hospital, she was in and out within a few minutes.
"So, how about our first reading session now? It's been a while y'know." He went over to the box and dug around for the graphicoll they were on before. If his memory serves him right, it was 'The Guardians of Pyrrhia: The Lost Scroll'. "I'm scared you'll start to backtrack if we don't read soon, MudWing."
Umber looked back at him as he broke the bandages in with each step. He could already see the gentle, Innocent smile on his face as he realized what Flame was asking. "I'd love to," he said in his usual, gentle voice.
It left him to wonder why the world wanted him gone so badly. Surely Umber was one of the only good things to happen to this world, so why try and take him away? Why take Umber away over him? Was it because he was too pure for this world?
He walked over and sat down on the couch next to Flame as he sprawled the scroll out against the wood. "What part were we on again?" Umber asked.
"I think it was chapter nine; where Fennec was accepting the mission to get the scroll."
"Oh yeah!" His talons grazed along the paper until he found the part. "I thought I'd never read another graphicoll with you," he said softly, shifting a little closer until their wings brushed against each other.
Their tails intertwined as Flame rested his head on Umber's shoulder. "Me neither," he sighed. "But we're here now, and that's all that matters. And I won't let anything else take you away from me, us, not again."
They had been walking for the last hour, taking periodic breaks every fifteen or so minutes. Flame hadn't specifically told him what kind of surprise he was being taken to, but he knew they were walking toward the beach.
He kept checking a specific part of the map he brought with him every time they got lost — which was often — and he knew that's where he was bringing him.
The beaches of the Sky Kingdom were some of the most beautiful in all of Pyrrhia; clear water that looked a lot similar to thousands of layers of perfectly clear blue stained glass, all stacked atop each other. It was almost mesmerizing.
And the hundreds of seagulls that surrounded the area were a nice, quick snack whenever they didn't bring any food.
Flame didn't like them, but they were more of an acquired taste. That and a hungry MudWing would eat anything edible if they were hungry.
"We're almost there, MudWing," Flame said. "Let's stop here and take a break."
Currently, they were on a path through a small patch of trees right next to the beach. He thought it looked a lot like the rainforest (though he'd never been there, but it was similar to how he imagined it).
He wondered what Kinkajou would think of it. Would she have the strange, irresistible urge to swing from tree to tree? Or would she scoff at how little it looked like the Rain Kingdom? Who knows, the only thing on his mind were the racing thoughts of what he'd see in just a few minutes.
From a calm, warm day at the beach, to a small celebration with Chromis, Avalanche, and Shrimp. Those were all in the range of possibilities for him.
A beach day sounds fun, but I bet a celebration with Chromis would let him down a bit; I can't go play with him in the water or anything that involves moving a lot. Young dragonets like him always love running, I don't know how they do it. It's like they have an unlimited amount of energy.
They sat down on the bench for the next few minutes. And though his walk was definitely getting better — all thanks to Turtle —, a break never hurt anyone. Unless it was in the war of course, which were probably some of the worst years of his life.
"What do you think it is?" Flame asked.
"Oh, I don't know. I was expecting something like a beachside house with servants that serve us head-to-talon," Umber said sarcastically with a smile. "And if I'm really lucky, maybe even a buffet full of your best dishes. Is that what you've been doing when I'm asleep?"
There was a pause, where Flame just stared at him with a smile on his face. "Wow," he said.
"What?"
"It's just…you. I'm just now realizing how much I missed talking to you." He scooted a little closer to him until their wings rubbed against one another. "You always come up with the most best responses," he said softly and affectionately.
"'Most best'?"
"Yeah, like the most bestest responses of all time."
"Oh, shut up, you silly dragon."
"What? You don't like my compliments? Are they not good enough for you?"
"Of course not, it's just-"
"...that they're not good enough," Flame finished for him.
"No! I mean…well maybe."
"Maybe?"
What followed was nothing short of a small argument. Not a particularly serious one though, there was a lot of laughing and talking over one another. But as it went on, Umber threatened to kiss him if he didn't shut up. Then one thing led to another, and their faces were connected before they could even realize, their lips melting at the touch.
They were both holding each other's heads as their lips danced happily together. Was this the surprise? Maybe it really is a day at the beach, where we can relax and spend the rest of today in the sand.
To him, that sounded perfect after what he's been through. That idea was quickly erased from his list of possibilities though when he heard a familiar voice down the trail a little. "C'mon you two!" they yelled. "Quit making out and get down here already! You're late!"
He twisted his head around to see Jet waving at them from the top of the hill. He looked back at Flame with a questioning glare on his face; he didn't even have to say the words, as they were already written all over his expression in bright red ink.
Jet? Umber wondered. It must be a party then. Who else is here?
"Jet!" Flame complained. "We were coming in a minute!"
"You're almost an hour late, finish making out and get over here!"
"Well, you didn't exactly give me a proper time!"
Flame annoyedly stood up, and Umber followed as they began walking up the hill. They could see the beach once they reached the top, and he instantly smelled the fresh scent of food. How had he not smelled it before? It must've been covered up by the wind.
But what was even more surprising was how many he saw down there. He counted all Flame's family, his winglet, Zephyr, Jet, and even all of his sibs. Except Crane…
Though he didn't show it, his dreams had him in nearly constant thought at night about Crane, and he still often dreamed about her at night. He hoped all the surrounding excitement of him waking up would drown her out though.
One slow step after another, they walked toward the beach. One after another, heads turned to look at him with delight. Now that the trees weren't in the way, he could see a small tent further down the beach that had loads and loads of food in it, along with an unlit bonfire an appropriate distance away from it.
He flexed his talons in the warm sand as the sound of the ocean waves crashing filled his ears. There was a sharp hint of sea salt filling his nose, but as he looked past that he could smell turkey, chicken, steak, mashed potatoes, and…raw fish — for Shrimp, of course.
"What is all of this?" Umber asked in amazement. All of this over him being released from the hospital he felt was more or less overkill. A "Welcome home!" would have sufficed enough.
"Surprise!" There was a moment of silence after as he looked the party over. "Do you…like it?"
"Yeah, I just…" he trailed off. He turned to Flame to give him the only appropriate response he could think of, before standing on his hind legs and throwing himself into Flame's arms. "You really did all of this for me?" he said quietly, almost in a whisper; a shaky whisper that made him sound like he was about to cry.
Which wasn't far off, because the joy of seeing how much had been set up and planned all for him made him want to cry.
He pulled away and stared Umber in his eyes. "Hey, don't thank me, thank them," he said. "I had nothing to do with this."
"Really?" he said with disbelief as he jumped back down onto all fours, as did Flame.
He would've thought for sure he would've helped set it up. He would go above and beyond to set anything up for him, no matter how busy he was. Especially after his release, this is exactly the type of thing he would do.
"I've been busy with you the whole time. I wish I was the one to set this up."
He heard many talons crunching under the sand and looked over to see all of his sibs walking over to him. Each one of them seemed delighted to have him in their presence, a big smile on their face and their wings having the perfect indent to hug him with.
He hadn't seen any of them in at least a week, but they probably missed him more than he did them. After all, who wouldn't want to keep a constant eye on their brother as he recovered from a life-threatening injury?
Words didn't need to be spoken before he broke free from Flame's grasp and — sort of — ran over to them. He firmly landed in each one of their talons as they buried him in a circle of different MudWings alike.
He couldn't tell whose wings were whose as they buried him, and the scorching sun didn't help either. "Alright, alright, I missed you too," he said with a chuckle under his voice as he spoke.
"Gentle!" Flame warned. They weren't exactly hurting him, but his broken wing was being rubbed up against something — or someone — enough for it to start to get uncomfortable.
And with that, it was like Flame had snapped them out of whatever love-driven trance they were confined to, and took a few steps back giving him some space.
"We've missed you so much!" Sora said excitedly. "I would've come to visit sooner, but Jet and I have had loads of backed-up paperwork ever since you were released. And oh my gosh, it's soooooo excruciating to sit through."
"I had to go back and do some stuff at Jade Academy, or else I would've come back the second you were released," Clay explained.
"We wanted to visit you," Marsh explained. "but we knew if we visited once, we would have to visit again and again and again. And that would've been suspicious because why would we be in the Sky Kingdom so long, and-"
"It's okay," Umber interrupted. "I was sleeping most of the time anyway." There was a moment of silence that strangely, wasn't so awkward. "Can I go sit down now? I could use a rest after walking here."
Without hesitation, they all took a step back and let him walk through, and he found Flame quickly finding his way beside him. "They're a little clingy," Flame said quietly.
"Not clingy, just excited to see me. That's just how we are."
They kept walking more toward the party. He couldn't see them before because of the sun, but he could see a bunch of chairs all sitting in front of the bonfire. Not around, but in front so they could all see each other.
Except one of the chairs looked marginally different from the rest, sitting right near the middle. Instead of being made of some sort of flimsy, white plastic, it was instead perfectly carved from wood, with a coat of polish around it.
He went closer to inspect it, letting his talons glide across the perfectly smooth surface. The pattern the wood made looked like the stripes of a lion, if they were dark and light brown. He could see that there were also two big parts on the back that were carved out.
They were carved out big enough that it looked like the back of his wings could fit into them. Is this…for me? he wondered. How?
"Flame, Umber!" Moon called out from behind him, her footsteps approaching. He tilted his head back to see her familiar midnight-black scales. "It's been so long! How've you two been doing?"
"Oh- we've mostly just been hanging around the house and stuff." He paused "Did you…really set this all up for me? Or is it someone's hatching day that I don't know about?"
"It's for you, silly!" she chuckled under her voice. "Why else would we have gone through all this trouble? We even got you a special chair so you can rest your wings."
"So it is mine?"
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah- I mean, how much did it cost?"
"Clay made it. Well, his woodworking class made it, actually." He could feel his weak legs trembling with exhaustion at this point, and Moon seemed to notice. "Sit down, sit down. Try it out!"
He habitually turned to check if Flame was still with him, and saw that he had taken a few steps away from Moon as they were talking. He had a half smile, but he could still see his expression of discomfort behind his façade.
He didn't understand why he didn't like them — Moon especially; they were great! He knew it was probably hard once he was told about their gifts. He understood being this way over Turtle, especially after Darkstalker. But Moon? She was harmless. As long as he was wearing his necklace, Moon was just a normal dragon to him.
He sat down in the chair, positioning his wings to fit in the cut-outs comfortably.
Immediately, it felt like all of the useless weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Actually, that's exactly what was happening. It's not like his wings were useful to him in any way as long as his other wing was broken.
His wings didn't perfectly fit in the indents, but it was definitely far more comfortable than carrying around dead weight. Usually, when he sat down, he'd sprawl his wings out to the side slightly to fit better.
"Do you like it?" Moon asked, gripping the sand with her talons in anticipation of his response.
"I love it!" Umber said. He looked over at Flame to see that he was still standing a comfortable distance away from Moon. "Flame, why don't you come sit down next to me? It's a party, after all, enjoy yourself!"
Flame scooted slowly past Moon, and moved the white chair to the left of him closer. Is being around them really that bad to him? he thought. Maybe having her give them some space wasn't such a bad idea, especially with how uncomfortable Flame was — he could see it written all along his face and the way he moved.
It was strange seeing Flame uncomfortable around other dragons. Usually, he wasn't scared of anything. If he wanted to kiss him in front of a crowd of dragons, that's exactly what he'd do without a care in the world.
"Hey Moon?" He looked over to meet her eyes. "Can you give us a minute?"
She nodded her head before turning around and walking toward Qibli, who was sitting under the tent that had food in it talking to Reed. Once he was sure she was out of range to hear them, he turned to look back at Flame whose eyes were staring back at him. It was almost as if he was expecting what he was about to say.
"What's going on with you?" he asked. "Does Moon really make you that uncomfortable?"
He sat up in his chair and looked at him sternly. "Umber, she lied to me, along with your whole winglet!" Flame retorted. "Why would I want to be around them right now? How can you trust any of them, especially Turtle?"
"That wasn't their secret to tell though," Umber argued. "What good would come of telling everyone about Moon's mind reading? Or- or, Turtle's magic?"
"I'm not just anyone though! I'm dating you for moons' sake! Why do you get to know these things the first time you talk to them in months, but the only reason I get to know is to heal you and persuade me?!"
"Flame, you have to understand their perspective though! You used to be reckless; and dangerous! You tried to kill Stonemover and almost succeeded! How scared do you think they were that you might try something?"
After a few seconds of silence, Flame turned his head away. He had won this argument, but was this enough to get him to trust them? Probably not, but he hoped he'd think about it and at least try to start, for him.
Then, an idea popped into his head.
"Umber, why don't you come to the Healing Center with me?" Flame asked softly as he laid in his hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling only lit by the moons' light shining through the window.
"I am going with you," Umber said, trying to act dumb knowing full well what he was implying.
"I mean to take classes and stuff, MudWing."
"What for?" He looked over at Flame from his side of the room. Flame's expression gave away what he was implying. He paused. "No," he denied. "I already told you, I'm fine. Crane isn't a big deal to me anymore, alright?
Flame paused, inspecting his face. "You're lying," he observed. "Umber, will you just do it for me-"
"No! End of discussion!" he said defensively. But as that rare sense of anger wore off, he realized that he had just yelled at Flame. "I'm sorry, just not now, alright? I need some time."
Little flashes from his dreams swept through his mind. Crane getting her throat slit, her yelling and screaming at him, her body limply rolling down from atop a hill, leaving a blood trail behind. Those images still haunted him, and likely would for the rest of his life.
But Flame wanted him to get better, just like he wanted Flame to trust them again. But was going to the Healing Center again really worth it? Did he really want to talk about Crane to a dragon he hardly knew?
Does Flame really want to spend time around dragons that make him uncomfortable just to please me? he questioned in retort, almost like a mini argument between him and himself in his mind.
He sighed. "How about this," Umber tried. "If you spend time with them today and at least try to like them, I'll take some classes at the Healing Center."
He almost immediately regretted those words. A part of him wished Flame would decline, but another part wished he didn't at the same time. And by the way his face lit up at the offer, it was obvious which path he was taking. "Really?" he said. "All I have to do is talk to them?"
"And spend time with them," he added. "No wiggling your way out of conversations because you don't like them. If they go out and do something fun, you do it with them, with or without me."
"Deal!" Flame said without hesitation. "I'll go down to the Healing Center tomorrow and sign us up!"
"T-Tomorrow?" Umber asked nervously.
"Relax, it'll be a few days before they actually let us in. If they let us in. Hopefully, Zephyr can get us in, because y'know, she kind of runs the place."
He stayed silent.
"But now for my end of the deal." Umber gulped in anticipation of what punishment Flame would be giving him. "You have to go to your classes every day — unless we both skip, of course, but don't get your hopes up. You tell them about Crane and work with them. Tell them whatever they ask about you or Crane."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
He paused, contemplating what he should do. Maybe he could just refuse to go tomorrow? But Flame probably wouldn't give up, and maybe even tell Zephyr everything he knew to force him into sessions if he did. "...Alright…fine," he sighed. "You get along with them, I go to the Healing Center with you."
"Really?"
All he did was stare at him and blinked, his face full of disappointment and uncertainty.What did I just agree to?
Author's notes: Forgot to announce I'd be taking a break haha. I thought it would be appropriate as a sort of mid-season break. Been more productive with my writing recently, like getting my daily quota for words done faster (aka literally hours after I wake up instead of right before I go to sleep) so I get the rest of the day to myself. Anyway, I might experiment a little with my writing next chapter, so be prepared for a few different minor changes to my writing.
