Big announcement! I've opened a Discord server that anyone can join. In order to join it, you first have to open Discord (obviously), then at the side where your servers are, you'll see a little plus sign at the bottom. From there, at the bottom of the prompt when you click it, it'll say "Join a Server," click on that. Then input this code into the dialogue box (TZtXBJy2S4), and click "Join Server." I'd post the Discord invite link itself, but neither AO3 nor FFN will let me, so we have to work with what we have haha. In this server, I'll be posting sneak peeks to new chapters, announcing breaks, and generally interacting with my community. There's also the original Healed author in the server as well, along with the two thumbnail artists who made the thumbnail, Noxiicro (Duolingo) and Megido. A problem I've seen a lot is that some people can't see the thumbnail, but no worries! That is also in the Discord, in the art channel! Hope to see you there!
He opened his eyes, looking up at Flame who was standing over his bed as he shook him awake. He was always the one who woke up first, especially recently. If Flame let him, he could probably sleep for the whole night and day. And yesterday I even fell asleep five hours early… he remembered.
"Umber, time to wake up," Flame said, his voice echoing through his freshly awoken mind. Through the way he hadn't woken up later, he knew he had woken him up for a reason. But it didn't take longer than half a second for him to get his bearings and remember exactly where they were and why they were there.
My healing session…
He felt a thrum of fear run through his chest, already wanting to run out through the door and run far away from the Healing Center. He would much rather roam through the forests, or even the ruins of the Sky Kingdom like a lost dragonet whose mother had just left him.
Before he could think, he could already feel words coming out of his mouth. "Can we go out to the town again?" he muttered, already knowing the answer.
"If it were up to me, this would've never happened and we could go out there and explore it every day," he explained. "But it's not, and I'm sorry. Zephyr said that she's an amazing healer, and I'm trusting her word because you need the help."
He felt a mix of morning anger, fear, and sadness at that answer. "Can you please just talk to her today? One more day?" He sat up, Flame's face unmoved and holding its ground. "I'm fine, really! Crane hasn't been bothering me anymore, I swear!" He looked at his unconvinced expression. "Why…? Why are you doing this to me?" he asked weakly, stress deeply sinking him further and further into the endless pit.
He could already feel tears threatening his eyes. Twenty seconds into waking up, and he already wanted to cry; let the waterfall of tears break from his eyes and course down his scales. But he couldn't, not in front of Flame. He couldn't risk his comforting touch act as if truth serum had been injected directly into his veins and flood his mind.
If he cried now, Flame would be able to pick through his mind like a maggot and get everything out of him, even when he didn't want to say — even when he couldn't say.
The longer the time passed, the harder it got to suppress tears, and the deeper he sank. "What do you mean? You know why I'm doing this — I'm helping you because I know you won't help yourself, MudWing."
He grumbled. "Yesterday you didn't trust her, and now all of a sudden you do?" he shot back, letting all the stress turn from sadness to anger, and then back to sadness as soon as he was done. "Flame, why can't you just make up your mind?!" his voice faltered slightly. "Why does it always have to be a guessing game with you?!"
Flame looked at him, a shocked expression shining through. "What?" he tried. "Umber, what are you talking about? Yes, I trust her, but that doesn't mean I like her." He paused, an expression he could only recognize as realization flashed across his face, knowing full well what this was really about, even if he didn't know it himself. He opened his mouth, a breath coming out before his words. "Umber…" His voice was soft, almost like a warm fluffy blanket straight out from drying in the sun.
He wouldn't dare say anything more, but the implication was more than enough to make him want to sob. Flame reached a talon out, aiming for his shoulder.
He wanted to slap his talons away — to stop him from making contact, knowing full well what would happen the moment their scales met. But he couldn't stop him. As much as he wanted to move he couldn't, like he was tied up and pinned by his own mind.
And then he felt the warmth against his shoulder.
Just like before, his touch did exactly what he thought it would. He felt a shy tear break away from his eyes, ignoring his commands for it to stop. He tried so hard to not show emotion, but in the end, his attempts were futile; useless.
The moment Flame saw his tears, he pulled him in for a hug. The feeling of his warm talons against his back caused more and more tears to soak his scales, until he was sobbing into Flame's shoulder, an uncontrollable emotion he was cursed to have to endure. He wanted so desperately to stop, but he couldn't. Flame had him exactly where he wanted him, open, exposed, vulnerable.
But instead of prying, he kept a firm hold on him for what felt like hours. Instead of forcing him to tell him everything about Crane, he comforted him. He knew full well he could but didn't.
But why? Was it because he didn't know just how vulnerable he was? No, that wasn't it. Could it have been that he just wanted to be there for him? But why give up an opportunity like that when it might as well have been handed to you on a silver platter?
After a few minutes of sitting like that, as Flame gently waved them both back and forth as he sobbed, he pulled away and stared into his tear-soaked eyes. "I'll go with you today, alright? I'll cancel my session with Starf for a few days, and we can go together. How does that sound?" Once again, his voice was calm, slightly higher pitched, and comforting. He spoke in a low voice, and all Umber could do was nod his head. "Alright, well we should get going soon, or they'll get mad at us." He reached a talon out, and Umber shakily took it.
After a quick bandage change, they began walking down to Starfish's office. This time, he didn't bat his wings away when he tried covering him. Instead, he pushed closer, letting him wrap him up tightly. He knew his eyes were still slightly red; enough to where Nighthunter would be able to tell he had been crying in mere seconds.
Starfish didn't take longer than a second thought to agree, especially after seeing the state Umber seemed to be in; he could still see — and feel — his talons trembling, even after a few minutes. The tips of his talons shook, creating a tapping noise you could hear if you listened hard enough.
And the next stop they would be taking was Nighthunter's office. The same office that made him round out in a panic. The same office whose inhabitant made him run off in the first place. The same office that made him lock himself behind a door and weep because he was too scared to face her.
And he was about to be expected to just waltz in there like he was going into the kitchen on an average Saturday morning.
Those memories came flashing back to him in fragments, each making his heart drop further and further.
And as they walked into her room, the sudden shift to warm air didn't do him any favors. He looked over at the window — as she was lucky to have a window in her office —, to see that the crank fan she had wasn't running anymore. He hardly even gave it a thought the other day, but now that it was gone it felt even warmer than outside.
"Umber! I'm so happy to see you again!" she said in her usual lucky-go-happy tone. It reminded him of Aztech, back at Dragon's Breath Tea — the SkyWing with a misspelled, untraditional SkyWing name. Thankfully, Flame was too angry to see her nametag. Umber assumed that maybe her parents wanted her to be different from the rest — though there were probably better ways of going about it than that horrendous name. He could only feel sorry for her as he imagined her growing up, knowing how cruel some dragons could be; it wasn't too long of a shot to assume she got bullied at some point.
He could see the realization on her face that she quickly tried to hide, but wasn't fast enough. "It seems you brought Flame here with you this time. Does Starfish know about this?" she questioned, her tone sounding like a genuine question more than a "Ha! Got you!" moment.
"We stopped by his office," Flame explained, pulling a chair from the corner of the room and placing it down next to Umber's before sitting down in it. "He said it was fine for the next few days."
He took his seat next to Flame, pushing his broken wing to the side to avoid the discomfort of the slight pain he felt whenever he moved.
There was a moment of silence where the tension held high in the air, a string feeling like it would snap any moment. He first looked into Nighthunter's eyes, and then back down at the floor, focusing on silencing his shaking talons.
But then Nighthunter took the first slash at the line. "Umber, I'm sorry about the other day," she said. "I should've looked at your case closer and thought more about what I was saying. I looked over your case again — this time more thoroughly."
A shiver went down his spine, and another thrum of fear mixed with light embarrassment went through his heart. She had gone through his case, which meant she had known everything about him. No doubt there was far more information on me than that piece of paper, he realized.
Even though he knew she had already known about everything, the fact she was able to freely go through everything he had been trying to hide for so long made him…uncomfortable.
The next thing he expected her to say was something about Crane — something that would make him want to get away from her as fast as possible. But when she asked about how life was back at the Mud Kingdom, after the war had ended, he felt his shaky talons ease in response.
"The Mud Kingdom?" Umber asked, repeating her question.
He thought back to that distant past; when he didn't have Flame to hold him close at night or make him food in the morning before he had even woken up. He didn't have Moon, Qibli, Turtle, Peril, Kinkajou, Zephyr, Jet, Avalanche, Shrimp, or even Chromis to call friends.
He remembered thinking how horrible it was to have to go out almost every day and kill. His first kill made him puke and sob for the next few days, and he had even dreamt about that dragon for the next month. That all changed when Clay came along, and there was finally light at the end of the tunnel.
And then they reached the end, and all of that pain was over.
Everything got better from there — he was able to sit in a mud puddle all day and relax with his sibs, and eat all the food he could find without a care in the world — except…her, constantly weighing on his mind, no matter how hard he tried to push her away. Flame made those thoughts go away, but only temporarily, and they only got worse from there.
But he pushed his mind away from that, thinking of the hot sun against his scales and the feeling of mud swallowing his mind whole as he sunk into it.
"It was great," he finally said. "After the war, everything felt like it got better. I was able to finally lay back and relax for the first time in my whole life."
He could still remember his first mud bath after Queen Moorhen had discharged everyone from fighting. Since that day, he hadn't spilled a single ounce of blood. He could only imagine if the old Umber saw him now, he would be so happy.
"I see," Nighthunter said, jotting down some notes on her clipboard. Meanwhile Flame was sitting there, listening patiently.
He took a glance at Umber, and Umber realized that the scared expression he had come in with had almost fully disappeared. The only injury you could clearly see anymore was the bandages wrapped around his body like a mummified dragon. "See? I told you it's not that bad," he said, his voice friendly and comforting.
"So," she continued as she wrote down more notes, her talons as black as her scales. "did you have any friends back at the Mud Kingdom? Or was it just you and your siblings?" She looked up, ready to listen intently.
"Just me and my sibs. Everyone kept to their own family for the most part," Umber explained. "We depended on our sibs for most of anything. When we got sick or bored, we relied on them. Sometimes Reed and Pheasant would go hunting for the rest of us when we were sleeping."
Once again she went away to writing, talon to paper. "Alright." She looked up at him. "and what kind of food? Is there any favorite food you prefer? I hear MudWings are hardly picky."
He remembered all the rabbits and pigs and even cows Reed and Pheasant brought back sometimes, waking him up from his muddy slumber to a feast. He would usually cook his food — that was if it wasn't snowing outside. In the winter, he always had to eat his food raw.
"One of my favorites is Flame's poached eggs with his homemade toast." He could still remember the first time he took a bite, the flavors mixing together and melting in his mouth. Like a finished puzzle, each piece was just as perfectly put in place as the last.
More jotted notes. "And how long have you been cooking, Flame?" she asked, intrigued by having such a good chef in the same room as her. Flame looked up, taken off guard that she would talk to him. After all, he was just supposed to be supporting Umber. "I've seen you in the kitchen from the few times I forgot to bring my own lunch. If it weren't for healers having to pay, I would purposefully forget my lunch."
"I taught myself," he explained. "Trust me, when you're home alone for literal days on end with nothing else to do, all of a sudden cooking becomes a lot more enjoyable. I just experimented with whatever I could find until it came out good — Mom always got mad at me for using so many ingredients."
And then more notes. Flame flicked his tail, and he could tell he was resisting the urge to demand to see them, just as he did with Starfish. I wonder if he still does? But the fact he kept his cool gave him his answer.
"Really? You'll have to cook for me sometime," she joked, though nobody laughed — or even gave her a smile, for that matter. After a few moments of awkward silence, she looked back at Umber. "Alright, back to you, Umber. Is there anything else you enjoy? What about tea? I hear Sora loves tea."
"I drink tea sometimes," he admitted, though it was a lot more often than just sometimes. "There was this tea place we visited yesterday that opened up recently — Dragon's Breath Tea. All I did was grab an application and fill it out outside."
"Oh, so you want to work at a tea place?" she asked. Once again, more notes. "I hope you don't plan on working until you're fully healed, and then maybe a little longer after so you can regain your strength."
Which she was right about, of course. Any sensible dragon would realize that he couldn't work in his condition, even if he enjoyed the job. Not to mention getting to and from there every day. "It shouldn't be more than a couple weeks until then," Umber informed.
She looked at him, a puzzled look on her face. It was as if he had just told her the most unhinged thing of her life like there was something wrong with him. "Umber, I don't think you realize just how bad your burns are," she explained. "Those won't just heal in a 'couple of weeks', those will probably take a minimum of five to six months. I'm sorry, Umber, but it'll probably be a while until you're able to work."
All he did was toss her a disregarding glance, knowing full well that he looked stupid making such an unbelievable claim. "You'll see."
What followed was mostly a bunch of questions for the next hour, asking him about various things from his life. By the time their session was over, he imagined her paper had to look similar to something Starflight would write about something as simple as how ice melted when exposed to heat.
The whole time, Flame was sitting there and listening contently as the barrage of questions kept coming. Most of the stuff he was being asked, Flame already knew. But there were a few unimportant things he hadn't told him about, like the time the Jade Mountain Academy ran out of candles, and he ended up accidentally sleeping in someone else's cave.
He couldn't help but wonder if it had been Flame's cave instead. Would they have ever gotten together? Or would they have gotten together earlier? Would Flame have tried to kill Stonemover? Would he trust animi? He thought it was scary how one tiny little detail could change your life in such drastic ways, and you would never even know — Clearsight knew that especially well.
He let out a sigh of relief when they finally left her room. No talking about Crane, just about me, he thought. But he knew that wouldn't last, so he might as well enjoy it while it did. There would come a time when Nighthunter started talking more about Crane and less about him, whether he liked it or not, and each time that thought sent another painful jolt of fear through his heart.
On their way back this time, they didn't see Manticore strumming their guitar in the lobby. Most dragons would walk past and ignore them, while others would idle nearby and enjoy the music. Some dragons have no taste for anything.
Somewhere along the way, Flame split away from him to go and get them something to eat from the cafeteria and even offered to make him something special — his reward for officially completing his first session.
He twisted the cold metal handle of his door, letting the outside light shine into the dark room. Almost immediately, he made his way in and threw himself on his bed, an audible sigh of relief escaping him only accompanied by the metal springs creaking throughout the darkness.
He was already exhausted, just from the hour they were there. He didn't know how Flame was able to talk to Starfish every day about his problems — though his problems were nowhere near as serious as Umber's.
As he looked up at the ceiling for the next few minutes, his vision began to adjust to the blackness. That was until he got bored. So instead of laying there and staring at nothing until Flame got done with whatever he was making, he blew a small plume of flame to the wick of the candle sitting on their table.
He stood up and reached under the table for the box full of graphicolls, digging around until he found the piece of paper they had been reading the day before. He had never read without Flame before, but surely after so long of practicing he didn't need Flame to look over his shoulder constantly…right?
To say that Flame was proud of Umber today was an understatement. Despite everything that Nighthunter had done the other day, he still went back and actually talked to someone. It filled him with joy — that Umber was taking his first steps to true happiness. Of course, he was there to help, sort of like training wheels for him. But hopefully in the next few days, Flame wouldn't have to accompany him anymore, and he would be able to talk to Nighthunter completely solo.
He entered through the cafeteria door, the faint smell of cooked meat being covered heavily by different breakfast items and the talking of a million other dragons.
Today, they were cooking pancakes, waffles, breakfast sandwiches, and — his special — bacon-rolled sausage in a hotdog bun. Though, upon closer inspection it was clear they had made them completely wrong; the bacon was wrapped unevenly, the bacon wasn't crispy, the sausage was overcooked, and the bun hadn't been toasted.
But as he was looking at all of the food that hadn't been made right, he saw something out of the corner of his eye — or rather someone. They had dark yellow scales, an oh-so-familiar scar on his back left leg, and filled the air with a thick musk of anger, no matter the situation. Fennec.
As his eyes gazed over the cafeteria, Flame ducked down and scrambled to one of the kitchen doors, ducking behind the counter. There were a few dragons in there preparing food, but none of them had noticed him yet.
That was when he saw his all-to-familiar SeaWing coworker turn around, a plate of freshly cooked sausage in talon, that were — once again — overcooked. Recently, he had been trying to learn to cook like Flame. But a lot of the recipes he just couldn't get right, no matter how many times he tried.
Maybe cooking isn't for him after all, was the constant recurring conclusion after each dish. But he knew that not everyone would learn as fast as he did — that not everyone had the natural talent he had for cooking. Of course, though, he was the second-best cook in the Healing Center, only second to Flame.
"Hey! You can't…" he trailed off, recognizing the familiar gaze as Flame stared at him. And with one flick of his tail, his expression angered. "Flame? Where have you been?! I've been having to manage the whole-"
"Shh!" Flame shushed. "Aquatic, this is not the time!" he whispered, pulling him down to the kitchen floor. He managed to set down the plate of sausage just in time.
He looked at him, annoyance showing itself as a crease in his brow. "You said you were taking a couple weeks off, Flame! It's been almost two months!" he whispered back angrily. "Who are you hiding from anyway?"
"Fennec, isn't it obvious?" he said matter-of-factly. "I don't want to work for that fucker until Umber's done recovering! And if he realizes I'm living here now, he'll force me to work!"
"You're living here now? What's happened to Umber?" Aquatic asked, looking at him with a face that only screamed concern, and even a little sorrow sprinkled in.
"I'll tell you later." He shifted himself so that he could peek over the counter, his eyes briefly surveying the cafeteria. "Is Fennec still here? Check for me." He lowered his head back under the counter
"Okay, but first tell me-"
"I said I'll tell you later!" he said angrily, his tail thwacking against the wooden counter. Why he wouldn't just check? He didn't know, but the added resilience was beginning to make him want to smack him with his tail. "Now check for Fennec before I reconsider teaching you!"
With a huff, he stood up and looked around for a few moments, before looking back down. "It's all clear. Now are you gonna tell me what happened to Umber and why you're staying here again?" Though he didn't really have an issue about telling anyone, per se, it was more about the pity he'd get instead, which he didn't need.
"Fine, but don't go and feel all bad for me or anything, I don't need it. Do we have any day-old rice?" he asked, already standing up and opening one of the cupboards and grabbed two of the many metal pans hanging inside of it, and put them down onto the stove side-by-side.
"Uhm, I think so? It would be in the fridge. Why? What are you making?" he asked, intrigued.
"You'll see. Go grab the rice, ketchup, chicken, eggs, and mixed vegetables for me." He squirted some of the oil on each of the pans from one of their many rubber containers, turned the gas on, and lit the stove with a little bit of fire. Of course, Aquatic had a bit more trouble with that than Flame did, as he had to use a tiny lighter instead.
"What? You leave for over a month and think you can boss me around? Besides, I have stuff to cook!" His ear twitched slightly in annoyance, looking at him with a defiant glare.
"As your head chef, I'm asking you to get the ingredients for me so I can cook something quickly! Now hurry up, Umber's waiting for me back at our room."
With that, Aquatic left in a huff over to the fridge. Some of the other dragons there finally noticed him — a few SkyWings and a MudWing, the perfect candidate to cook — and gave him a hopeful stare. It was as if everything had gone downhill since he had left. It probably did.
By the time Aquatic got back with the supplies, the oil was already smoking. Not ideal, but he could certainly work with it.
"The chicken's already cut," Aquatic informed as he set down all of the ingredients on the black-and-white marbled counter beside him, looking like someone had filled a bucket with white paint and drizzled in black as it filled. "So, are you gonna tell me why you've been out for so long now?"
He opened the vacuum-sealed plastic bag, scooped some of the chicken chunks out, and threw them onto the stove. It sizzled up and splashed, angry that he dared to wake it from its very hot slumber. "Well, we were on our anniversary — what I took the time off for in the first place," — he grabbed a spatula and began stirring the chicken — "and then some stupid fucking scavenger came in, knocked a candle over, and set the whole restaurant on fire. Long story short, Umber got trapped under a beam, we got saved, and then he was kept asleep for a few weeks until he recovered enough to not be in excruciating pain when he woke up."
A gasp escaped from Aquatic. "Moons, Flame, are you okay? Is Umber okay?" he said, demonstrating the exact reason he didn't want to say anything.
"He's fine, back in our room doing whatever while he waits for me." The chicken had just started cooking, so he threw in the mixed vegetables, rice, and a little bit of ketchup and began stirring as it all cooked. "Can you go beat two eggs for me while I do this? I want to give Umber a surprise for doing his first healing session. Oh, and also get me a plate."
"Of course!" All of a sudden, his mind changed and suddenly wanted to help, even after Flame had told him not to feel bad. Gah! Why does nobody ever listen?! he thought with mild annoyance. Aquatic almost immediately grabbed a bowl, cracked two eggs in, and started beating. Within just a few short minutes of silence, the eggs were done beating, and Flame poured them into the empty pan.
As they slowly cooked, with the same spatula he used to mix the rice, chicken, and vegetables he tilted the pan slightly, folding one side of the egg before spinning it around in one smooth motion, and then repeating until the entire thing had been folded in on itself, and then flipping it. He had to admit, this was the most impressive thing he could make.
Just as quickly, he took the cooked mixture from the other pan and set it down on the plate Aquatic had just set down, creating a little half-ball shape.
Now let's see if I can pull this off without ruining it completely.
With the plate in one talon, and the pan in the other, he flipped the omelet in the air and watched as it perfectly landed in the center of the fried rice, breaking open and covering it completely. The inside was perfect, the insides flowing down the sides like lava flowing down a volcano.
"Woah, Flame!" Aquatic gasped in amazement. Flame grabbed a fork and set it on the plate, and sprinkled a little salt on it. "You've got to teach me to do that sometime!"
"First learn to make a bacon-wrapped sausage correctly, then I'll consider it," he said with a pat on the shoulder as he passed, heading for the door. Probably the only advantage of Aquatic knowing about Umber was that he wouldn't be the one doing the dishes.
But before he could leave, Aquatic instead stopped him with a talon on his shoulder. "If you ever need help with anything, Flame, just ask me," he said gently. "Take as much time off as you need."
"I thought I told you not to feel bad for me!" Flame scolded, scoffing. "I'll probably be back in around a week anyway, gotta start saving up money — we're starting to run low." He pushed past the gate, making sure to keep a firm hold on the plate. "Don't set anything on fire until then!" he said behind him as he walked off.
It didn't take a while before he was knocking on the closed door to their room, plate of food in hand. As he looked over at the freshly cooked meal, smelling like a dozen world-class chefs came in and cooked their best breakfast items, he realized that he was so busy making something for Umber and talking at the same time, that he forgot to get something for himself.
I'll live, he thought. It probably wasn't that good anyway. Everyone will be begging to come eat when I'm in the kitchen again.
Umber opened it, a smile on his face as his eyes laid firmly against the omelet Flame had made. Past him, he could see candlelight flickering and waving as it cast its orange light against the walls and ceiling. But there was also one other thing that it was illuminating, and that was one of their graphicolls.
The writing on it was unmistakable from any other, from the pictures to the characters to the title. Which only meant one thing.
Umber was reading by himself?
"Were you reading without me?" Flame asked, showing a teasing anger on his face, acting as if he was angry.
Umber obviously picked up on it, because he said, "Uhm…maybe? I haven't read very far, only a couple pages! We can go back and-"
"I'm just messing with you!" Flame laughed. "You could read that whole scroll by yourself and I would only be happy for you. Of course, you'd be going back and reading the whole thing over with me again." They both chuckled, and Flame pushed through the door and set it down on the table next to the candle, and Flame took a seat, beckoning for Umber to come over.
He took a seat beside him, and he wrapped one of his wings around his bandaged surface, cuddling him in warmth. Turning back a few pages, he pointed to the part he remembered them leaving off at, and Umber almost immediately went to reading.
Once again, looking over at Umber's soft face, he could clearly see that he looked happy — truly happy, for the first time in a while. There was no doubt that Nighthunter's session earlier had helped, and felt a strong feeling in his chest that he could only describe as pride and hope for Umber.
Author's notes: This chapter was a little hard to write at times, especially the areas with the healing session as I've never written a therapist before haha. But I think I did pretty good with it, and there obviously can be some improvement. Anyway, now for the Discord, I'm really excited to see what will happen with it in the future. I love interacting with my fans and seeing all the things you have to say about Healed, it truly brings me joy. Which is the exact reason I love reading comments so much and plug my Discord literally every other chapter lol.
