A/N- Here you are, folks! It's another chapter! This was quite a chapter for me to work on, and oh boy, just wait until you get on with reading it XD
Have fun reading, and I shall see you all soon! Oh, and before I forget, there will be some Spanish in this chapter, and if you wish to translate what is being said, you can find the translations below in order.
Reviews:
Guest: Thanks ^^
RoyalHyrule: Thank you, and yes, I do plan on trying to continue my other stories ;)
Chapter 2
Bones of Marrow and Visions
An inky void stretched beyond, trapping her in never-ending invisible paths. Kassidy gazed at her surroundings, trying to pick up on anything: sightings, sound, scent, and even attempting to touch and taste what was around her. But there was nothing. It was just her and her alone, with only the darkness to cloak around her and the echoing noises she made.
"Hello?" She called out, her voice reverberating through the nihility.
Nothing.
A bit of worry seeded in her chest, threatening to germinate inside her, but she tried to squash it and reassure herself that she wouldn't be stuck here forever. Kassidy took in a breath before slowly releasing it. She'd be alright… right?
Suddenly, her ears began to pick up on something. Kassidy flicked them forward, keeping them open. It was faint at first, but then her throat tightened, and her mouth dried up as she finally understood what it was: hissing. It echoed around her in an intense and sickening rhythm, and she could even feel it slithering through her arms and down her spine as if the source was now hiding and sneaking around in her blue fur like a snake. The hissing grew fierce, and the volume of it rose to a crescendo. Before Kassidy knew it, the sound was high-pitched to the point where she had to cover her ears before her eardrums shattered, her teeth bared, and her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to block it out.
And then it cut to silence.
Kassidy breathed in and out, slowly opening her eyes as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She finally gave her ears a breather, and at least no blood was gushing out while they were now ringing. She barely took notice of it, though, as the back of her neck instinctively prickled with foreboding.
She was not alone.
"Hello, Orphan."
Kassidy's breath seized. That voice… she recognized it all too well. One she despised the most. He was here.
"Thought you could get rid of me that easily?" A chuckle then resonated throughout Kassidy's surroundings. "I think not."
The voice came from behind her, and when Kassidy dragged her head over her shoulder, her eyes widened. He was the same as ever, not looking as if he'd gotten injured in his life. His mouth was shaped into a sinister grin, revealing his canine teeth that were snake-like as ever, and the same thing could be said for his mismatched eyes. The way he gazed at Kassidy was unsettling as usual; the type that you didn't know what he had planned next for his evil purposes.
"Martin…" Kassidy managed to utter.
"Nice of you to remember my name, Orphan," Martin replied before chuckling again.
Anger flared through Kassidy's chest, fire flickering in her ocean-blue eyes, and she summoned flames in her hands as she got into her defense position. "I'd think otherwise," she snarled. "Give me a few reasons why I shouldn't finish you off for good."
Martin's facial expression never changed; he only seemed amused, like this was child's play. "Gladly." He then held up each finger as he listed his reasons. "One: I always return no matter how often you try to take me down. Two: Your magic is weak—even when you try to learn new spells." Martin's Cheshire cat grin grew even more comprehensive. "Three: You've got bigger issues at hand."
Before Kassidy could even ask what he meant with his third reason, something plummeted from the air and thumped the surface. It was a large hourglass, and what Kassidy saw inside it had her stomach twisting in a knot as the flames in her hands perished.
Holden, Shade, and Marina were in there.
"Guys!" Kassidy exclaimed.
Sand breached the hourglass's neck and sprinkled on top of Holden, Shade, and Marina, the bottom slowly filling up. Panic sent Kassidy's heart racing as her friends tried to shield themselves from the sand and break free from their trap, and she rushed over to the hourglass as fast as her wings could carry her. Her friends shouted her name, fear feeding them.
Kassidy skitted to a stop before the hourglass. "Guys!"
The sand was quickly falling to the bottom of it, and the gothic Silverwing threw her fist at the glass and cracks spiderwebbed through it, but as fast as it came, the glass smoothed out, ridding of its blemish like it was just a ripple. Confused but also dreading for her friends' lives, Kassidy kept bashing her fists into the glass, leaving blood in the wake from the cuts she'd received, and even attempted to use her magic on it, but no matter what she did, the hourglass was too stubborn to fracture open.
Martin's malicious laughter hovered in the air. "Yes, Orphan!" he taunted her. "Try to free them! Their time is almost up!"
The hourglass's bottom was almost full, and her friends were now sinking into it like quicksand, making Kassidy attack it at full force with all the strength and speed she had left, but the glass still did not give in. "No!" she cried out, her hands turning more bloody and raw as her blood dribbled to the ground and oozed down the glass and wood.
"Will she save them?! Or will she fail yet again to save the ones she cares for most?!" Martin then roared with laughter.
If Kassidy weren't so focused on trying to free her friends, she would've kindled all her fury and wrath on Martin, but she couldn't let her friends suffocate in the sand. She just couldn't. However, horror reached her face when the sand consumed her friends, leaving nothing of them behind.
"NOOOOO!" Kassidy shouted at the top of her lungs, continuing to desperately break down the glass as Martin kept at it with his laughter.
And then, everything went pitch black, a hush falling over the area.
Kassidy jolted awake, breathing heavily. Sweat threaded through her hair, and she ripped her fingers through it, leaving it disheveled.
Just a dream… she said, her thoughts barely a whisper. A swear word then slipped through her mind.
Kassidy unlatched herself from the ceiling, flew out the knothole of a tree she had been sleeping in, and landed next to a tiny pond, dropping to her knees. She cupped her hands, scooped up some of the icy cold water, and splashed it on her face. Not enough. She dunked her head in the water for a few seconds, having it bite into her face, scalp, and drench her hair crown before throwing it back, shivering a little. Kassidy gulped in what air her lungs needed, trying to calm her nerves.
Ever since she'd been traveling with Goth and Throbb, she had these awful dreams where Martin did something horrendous to her friends, like drowning them in a pool of blood, walls moving in on them until their bones were crushed, feeding them alive to a giant snake, etc. Each time Kassidy tried to save them, she was too late. She should've been used to these dreams by now but wasn't. Perhaps because she still held ounces of guilt and worry for not tracking down her friends and seeing if they were okay—well, technically, Kassidy had tried to see through their visions and some others with her magic to try and check on them, but each time she did she kept on hitting a wall, likely because a spell was cast to prevent anyone from seeing through their eyesights.
They're okay, she tried to reassure herself. They're safe, and Martin's dead. He can't try to hurt them anymore.
Even when Martin was dead, though he somehow managed to haunt her in her dreams, it was like she could never get rid of him, dead or not. Kassidy cursed at him and his wife, Dianna, in her thoughts, the people who were the reason her parents were exanimated, the reason her family got kidnapped—who knew what even happened to her dog, Raven, whom she was also concerned for—and then turned savage by an experiment, the reason she and her friends had to suffer. All because of them. The world was well rid of them.
Kassidy slid her hands over her face. Pull your shit together, Kass, she berated herself. Goth and Throbb will be awake any moment now… She peeled her hands away from her now wooden face as if she had slipped on a mask.
Even though Kassidy had a deal with Goth and Throbb, that did not mean she would get on board their train of friendship. She had enough on her plate, like trying to find any owls for the duo to testify to—surprisingly, none in sight thus far—and with a week that went by, she still couldn't find it in herself to trust the giant bats. For crying out loud, they almost tried to kill her friends and planned on eating the Silverwings days ago—a plan that backfired—and trust was a rare egg to find nowadays.
And those eggs of trust with Goth and Throbb cracked the moment she found out their intentions during when they, Martin, and Dianna had traveled with her and her friends back further up north, around which she even had her suspicions about them. No matter what happened, Kassidy swore to keep her walls up around them. This was a bargain and nothing more.
Kassidy went to clutch her pendant as if she were seeking comfort, only to wince when she remembered that she no longer had it, likely lost in the depths of the water by now. Her repentance had multiplied, and no words could describe how much she wished for specific different outcomes, one of them being that she still had her amulet, then at least she would still have a piece of her parents to remember them by. But now, she had nothing left of them while still in the wild.
Goth could still not read them. The stars peppering the sky were yet again hard to make out, still nothing close to being as familiar as the ones back in the jungle. As peeving as it was, he supposed that all was not lost—Kassidy, for example.
The nights that had passed blurred together, and to say that traveling had been pleasant for Goth was an understatement. Each night that came and went wasn't getting any warmer (the cold felt like it kept dropping), and Throbb and Kassidy's company wasn't anything special. To make things more frustrating, there were still no signs of that human building. Cama Zotz had not been joking; this would be a long journey there.
Goth tore through his catch, eating all the glorious meat, with Throbb doing the same thing with his, the two of them perched on the same tree branch. On the other hand, Kassidy was skinning away bark on a nearby rotten tree, foraging for hibernating insects. Goth's lip curled disdainfully. He could not fathom why she was still resorting to insects when there was meat that could fill her up plentifully more than those disgusting creepy crawlies, especially when this weather made them more hungry.
As if sensing his eyes on her, Kassidy switched her gaze—as cold as the snow—to his.
Goth did not say a word, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
They were like that for a few beats, waiting for the other to say or do something, and in the middle of chewing his food, Throbb noticed it all. He remained quiet, though, watching as the staring war continued.
Then, as if getting bored of it, Kassidy turned her head away, returning to where she left off.
Cold clouds puffed from Goth's nostrils, and his teeth ripped off another chunk of his meal.
Kassidy had primarily been reserved, barely even imparting a word to either of the giant bats, and the only times she did was to discuss which way they should go, the owls, etc. Evidently, she still didn't trust them—for example, making boundaries like being six feet apart from her when they all turned in for the day—which made things a bit problematic for Goth. He had to hand it to her, though; the human-turned-bat wasn't naive as most of his prey he'd caught in his life, and hiding his true intentions for her had not been easy thus far. Thankfully, Kassidy still hadn't figured out that he intended to get her to that human building and jungle, as per Cama Zotz's instructions, and as long as she didn't, things would go smoothly, so long as they didn't run into any owls.
There had been no owl sightings in the past few days, and Goth could see that the witch was determined to find at least one so she could get him and Throbb to attest. He hadn't lied when he said he and his brother-in-law would do that. However, it would make things more elementary if they got to the human building before they even encountered any, making this task much more manageable. It seemed unlikely, though, as he had the strongest feeling that Kassidy wouldn't let this pass, not only that any species of owls could pop out at any moment, and when that happened… well, the testifying would just have to be done and over with, but there was no way in Zotz's Hell that he'd fail his task. They'd come this far, and it was only a matter of time before his mission was complete, and nothing would stand in his way of that. But if it came down to killing someone or more just to achieve it, then so be it.
Kassidy snatched a few bark beetles one by one, calling it her breakfast, and crammed down as many as she could for the flight ahead. While there weren't many of them, she supposed they would have to do. Flying on an empty stomach in the middle of the winter was a no-go anyway.
Goth and Throbb had woken up moments ago and were doing the same thing as her: filling their stomachs. Throbb was eating a red squirrel, while Goth—oddly enough—was eating a duck, blood painting down their muzzles and anything else it could reach.
Shouldn't that duck have been somewhere down south by now? Kassidy wondered. Maybe it got separated from its flock and lost its way, almost like what happened to me, Holden, and Shade. It doesn't matter now; it's dead.
"¿Honestamente va a seguir comiendo insectos mientras continuamos nuestro viaje?" Goth spoke to Throbb in a hauteur tone.
"¿Debería importar eso?" Throbb responded, not really caring.
"Simplemente no entiendo por qué no come carne. Tiene sangre carnívora, pero no ha comido carne desde hace unas noches. Es como si se muriera de hambre si sigue recurriendo a los insectos."
Kassidy could only roll her eyes as she overheard their conversation. Really? She tartly thought. They couldn't even think to go somewhere in private to discuss that?
"Si quiere comer insectos, esa es su elección tanto como la elección de cualquier otra persona sobre lo que quiere comer." Throbb said with common sense.
Goth shook his head disapprovingly like a teacher when a student gave the wrong answer to a question. "Comer alimentos preferidos no es una opción para la supervivencia; comes lo necesario para que tu dieta sobreviva."
Having enough, Kassidy looked over her shoulder at the brothers-in-law, her brow bunched together, and said in Spanish, "Puedo entender lo que ambos están diciendo, lo saben."
There was a pause. Goth and Throbb slowly turned to face Kassidy, surprise flashing in their eyes.
"You speak Spanish?" Goth managed to word out.
"Is it really that much of a shock to you?" Kassidy dryly replied.
Goth schooled his current emotion into a calm one. "I suppose it shouldn't, but why did you not say so sooner?"
Using his words from a week ago against him, Kassidy said, "You never asked."
For his response, Goth could only blink.
"Where did you learn to speak Spanish?" Throbb asked out of curiosity.
"I took Spanish classes in middle and high school—and before you ask what those words mean, they're places intended for human education."
Throbb nodded, his fascination beginning to pique. "So that means you're pretty good at speaking our native language?"
As if telling him he was right, Kassidy easily switched to Spanish with no hint of bragging in her voice. "En su mayor parte, sí." She then set her gaze directly on Goth, reverting to English. "Anything else you'd like to add about my eating habits in either of the two languages?"
A beat of silence went by before a lazy smile appeared on Goth's blood-stained lips, and he said, "Since you asked, I might as well." He then wiped his chops with his arm. "You've been small for Zotz knows how long because you've been scavenging for insects—weak and small creatures. Now take a good look at you. You've grown a few inches because you ate some meat, and it's just like I said many nights ago: meat is where the power is."
Kassidy's jaw hardened. Goth was not wrong, though. Within the past few nights, the trio noticed that she had a growth spurt and was now almost as tall as Throbb, with her wings sort of curled but not as much as the brothers-in-law's. Kassidy hated to admit it, but it likely had been the rabbit flesh's doing back when they were at the crevice. Even so, that did not mean she'd feast on any more meat throughout the flight, no matter how good it had tasted. She would not give in to temptation again.
"How about you worry about you, and I'll worry about me," Kassidy bitterly replied. "You can have your meat, and I'll have my insects, thank you very much."
"Just stating the obvious, señorita," Goth casually said. "What difference does it make anyway? Many birds and beasts don't even like you or fear you."
Kassidy narrowed her eyes. "And it was primarily because of you, Throbb, Martin, and Dianna that made things worse—which I know you ain't sorry about."
Throbb's face changed to something hard to perceive, but it was likely a hint of guilt for putting Kassidy in a situation where the blame had fallen on her.
Goth simply shrugged. "Point taken. But all I'm saying, Kass is–"
"You may refer to me as Kassidy," Kassidy sharply cut him off like a knife. "Only my friends are allowed to call me by my nickname, and as far as you two go, you sure as shit ain't on my list of friends, especially after all that you've done."
Throbb winced as if knowing the accusation was fair. "We really are sorry…" Was all he could get out.
Goth jerked his gaze to his brother-in-law with a facial expression that asked him if he was serious right now.
"Sorry or not, it does not change anything," Kassidy curtly said.
"Even so, we're jumping away from the other topic," Goth stated, focussing his attention back on Kassidy. "As I was about to say, eating meat should be no different to you than eating bugs." A smirk then tugged at his lips. "I think you just don't want to admit that flesh tastes good. Could it perhaps have something to do with your friends?"
At the mention of them, Kassidy felt her hand ball into a fist where Goth and Throbb couldn't see it. "Don't test me."
Ignoring Kassidy's warning, Goth plowed on. "What can eating more meat kill, your soul?"
Kassidy crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe a few brain cells. Wouldn't be surprised if you had lost a few with the amount you consume daily."
Even though she knew that protein could be suitable for some, Kassidy secretly just wanted to poke a nerve of Goth's, and it seemed to have worked as his face tightened, but he somehow managed to keep himself composed. "Never too late to–"
"Listen, Fancy Wings," Kassidy broke off another sentence of his, her tone as frosty as her gaze as she flew over to where the brothers-in-law were, alighting next to Goth, "I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work, so stop wasting your time. You can take that carcass of yours and shove it up your–"
As she gripped the dead duck in Goth's grasp and was about to tear it away from him so she could throw it at him, a shock went through Kassidy, like lightning bolts were zapping through her body, stilling her in place. Before anyone knew it, a scream erupted from her throat. Her head whipped back as her eyes rolled in the back of her head, her field of vision turning white like someone spilled milk.
He pumped his wings, breathing rapidly while weaving through the tree trunks, trying to escape what he thought was some kind of monster lurking in the woods, fear squeezing his chest. He should've been basking in the sun, floating in warm water as he ate all the delicious pondweed there was down south, but instead, he found himself being the targeted meal. Why did he insist the flock move on without him and that he'd catch up to them soon enough?
A shadow fell over him, and he yelped-quacked when a pair of clawed feet collided with him on the back. His surroundings spun; the ground layered with snow was coming up fast until he met with it, the snow dusting the air from the impact. The air was knocked out of him, pain shooting through his body, indicating he might've broken something as he was being crushed under a body—the monster's.
The monster forced him onto his back, and his eyes bugged out. It wasn't a monster. It was a giant bat. There was hunger in the big bat's eyes; the kind predators had for…
He panicked, but his captor easily held him down without a struggle, a dark smile crossing the giant bat's lips. And then teeth plunged into his throat.
"SEÑORITA!"
Reality slammed back into Kassidy, and she gasped for air, her throat raw from the screaming. A dizziness came over her, feeling lightheaded, and her hand found itself on her forehead. Something warm dripped down her nostril, and she wiped it. Blood. Her knees likely would've given out had not a pair of strong hands helped to steady her—Goth's. Kassidy's stomach began to churn, the acid clawing its way up her throat.
What the hell just happened? She wanted to know, and from the looks on Goth and Throbb's faces, they were about as perplexed as her.
Before anyone could even think to utter a word, Kassidy vomited, puke splattering Goth's breakfast—that he put off to the side—as she bent at the waist and heaved, emptying the contents of her stomach.
"Oh, Zotz!" Throbb said out loud, revolted by the duck corpse that was now smeared in vomit, and all the contents spilled from his guts accidentally onto Goth.
Goth cried out in disgust. "Throbb!" The giant bat looked like he was trying to will the contents of his stomach to stay put but to no avail. He threw up over the tree's limb.
The trio went to collect themselves, obviously a mess and tried to force in as much air as possible. Their night was off to a nasty and puzzling start.
Holden tapped the buttons on his controller rapidly, guiding his avatar and trying to kill the final boss in Bloodborne. He had a long day, his schoolwork was done, he got all the practice needed with his lightning ability, and he had nothing else going on, so Holden rewarded himself with some relaxation—also a way to try and keep his mind away from Kassidy and everything else.
Sylvester was sitting on his haunches on the couch next to him with a bored expression plastered on his face as he watched Holden's avatar kick some ass on the big screen TV. "Don't tell me this is what you plan to do all day," the feline flatly commented.
"What else am I supposed to do?" Holden questioned in a tone that suggested he didn't give a crap, his eyes remaining glued to the TV.
"Studying for some tests and finishing more of your class assignments would be a good idea. Doing the dishes would be another good idea."
Holden's brow scrunched together a little. "I can always study and finish my late assignments another time. I did enough of that today, and I can do the dishes later, but since when the hell did you become my dad?"
"Oh, I didn't. I became your pet."
Holden had to admit that he never would've imagined having a talking cat living with him—one that made snarky comebacks—but that statement was pretty accurate. "Touché."
The sound of the front door's lock turned with a click, and in came strolling Lewis with his belongings after opening the door. His clothes were stained with sweat from basketball practice, his dirty blonde hair touseled and a little damp. Relocking the door, he was about to go upstairs when he noticed Holden playing Bloodborne.
"Hey, you made it to the final boss," Lewis noticed as he observed Holden's avatar.
"Yup, but I got killed a few times," Holden admitted, not letting his one-year-younger brother's words distract him. "But not this time; I'm now certain I got this shit in the bag."
"That's what you said the last few times," Sylvester dully said, with Lewis only hearing from him in the same tone, "Mew."
Up yours, Sylvester, Holden wanted to launch at the black cat but decided to ignore him as all his concentration was being used on the video game.
Lewis patted Sylvester's head in a friendly greeting before talking to Holden again. "I'm gonna take a good guess and say that you still haven't done the dishes."
"Oh, gee, what would make you think that?" Holden wryly responded, his button clicking getting more intense. Though he had to give his brother credit, Lewis seemed to know him a bit better than their dad did.
"Dad's going to kill you if he sees that you still haven't done them."
"Whatever, I got time. He doesn't even come home until another hour."
A sigh that was a little irked escaped Lewis's lips. "Fine, your funeral. I'm hitting the shower." He then proceeded to the second floor, his shoes slapping against the stairs.
"You know there is something called the pause button, right?" Sylvester drawled out. "You can finish the dishes right now before your dad returns."
"How about you do the honors of taking care of the dishes if you're this bored and are just going to keep bringing it up every five minutes or so," Holden said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"My job description doesn't require me to do your chores. Quote from your brother, 'It's your task.'"
Holden rolled his eyes. "I swear, you and Lewis were made for each other."
After playing the video game for a few minutes and his avatar getting killed a couple of times now (with some profanity involved), Holden and Sylvester heard the front door unlock and swing open. Holden glanced over his shoulder briefly to see that his dad was back from work but continued with his game, trying to act casual, even though he cursed in his head to see that his father was done with his shift at the dental clinic earlier than usual.
"Welp, you're in trouble now," Sylvester nonchalantly said, Holden's dad Mitch only hearing from him a, "Mew."
"Shut up," Holden gritted out.
"Holden, what're you doing?" Mitch inquired in a hard tone as he crossed to the living room, not bothering even to greet his son.
Holden's brow furrowed, but he didn't look in his father's direction. "I'm hacking the internet—I'm playing a video game. What do you think I'm doing?"
"Last I remember, you still have some assignments you need to finish, and I know for sure that video games are not part of your homework. Did you even do the dishes?"
"No."
"Holden, I asked you to do the dishes before I got home, and yet you haven't done that yet?" Mitch then pointed toward the kitchen firmly. "Go do that right now."
Holden was getting close to killing the final boss, and he tried not to let his father distract him. "Yeah, alright. As soon as I finish this boss battle."
"I didn't ask you to. I'm telling you to go do the dishes."
Annoyance rippled over Holden's features with an edge of frustration. "Can't you just do it since you're now home?"
It was clear that Mitch was getting more cross with his son's attitude by the look on his face. "Excuse you, young man?! I don't work 36 hours per week so that I can come home to see you screwing around and playing your stupid video games! Go do the dishes!"
"Calm down, for Christ's sake! I said I'd do it after finishing this boss battle!"
Thank god for the potion, Holden said with relief, even while he was starting to get pissed with his dad for not being patient with him. Otherwise, my lightning power might've gone haywire right here.
Holden's avatar was almost out of health, the same being said for the final boss, and he compelled his avatar to try and go in for the last few strikes to end the boss finally. However, before he knew it, the screen went black. His jaw hit the floor, unconsciously dropping his controller.
"NO!" He shouted. Then, he realized that his father had the remote in his hand, sternly gazing at him. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"I don't know," Mitch began saying, "I thought that maybe you should… GO DO THE DISHES!"
Holden's face turned beet red, his brown eyes a storm as he bared his teeth. He fired a swear word at his father: the F-word.
Mitch's eyes flared wide as he gasped, and Sylvester was taken aback, too, by Holden's use of language toward his father. Tension hung in the air along with silence, and not even the crickets dared to sing a silvery chorus in the night.
"So, are we not going to talk about what just happened back there?" Goth spoke up, addressing the elephant in the room—forest, for the matter.
Kassidy, Goth, and Throbb were back in their flight, and they'd been quiet for a while after what had transpired—especially Kassidy, as she was still reeling from what she saw, still feeling quite nauseous as her throat felt quite sore, even when she swallowed. One moment, she was giving Goth a piece of her mind, and the next… she didn't know how to explain it, like someone had drugged her.
"That's the problem," Kassidy answered, "I don't know what happened back there."
Goth looked unconvinced. "You don't."
"No. Aside from seeing something."
Curiosity and a hint of concern drifted into Throbb's eyes. "What did you see?" He questioned.
Silence bore down on Kassidy for a beat or two before she responded. "I saw… a vision, only it didn't feel like I was in my body, but rather in someone else's."
Goth's brow gathered, puzzled. "I don't quite follow."
Kassidy tried to explain it to the best of her abilities. "It was like I was someone else, seeing their perspectives like that one spell that allows you to see through other people's visions… only I think it was something that happened in the past." She directed her gaze to Goth's. "I saw you in it."
Goth blinked stupidly. "Me?"
"Yeah, and you were the last thing I saw."
"And what exactly was it that I was doing?"
Before Kassidy could reply, she and Goth heard Throbb sniffing the air, and he then said to them, "I'm not sure if it's the cold messing with my nose or not, but I'm picking up on a lot of blood."
Checking to see if it was the former or latter, Goth went to detect any lingering smell, and he seemed to have picked up on something, too. "You're not wrong on that. I smell a lot of it, too." He slowly breathed in the scent as if it brought back memories. "It's bat blood."
Kassidy did as Goth and Throbb were doing and tested the air with her olfactory, and the two giant bats couldn't have been more right. The heady and metallic scent of blood rode the air, drifting heavily into the gothic Silverwing's nose. And that was when they saw it: droplets of blood on the blanket of snow, trailing into more heaps of blood until there was a pool of it gushing out of a bat, half-hidden within a dead shrub.
"What the hell?" Kassidy spoke out, diving toward the bat to investigate and see if they were still alive—even when it might've been a bad idea. She dropped down from the sky and carefully approached the shrub, keeping her eyes peeled.
"Careful, señorita," Throbb cautioned.
"I know what I'm doing," Kassidy sedately assured him, a little surprised that Throbb and even Goth didn't try to eat the bat but didn't show it as she was now in defense and detective mode.
She approached the bat, and as she drew near, Kassidy had a better look at them—him for the matter. The bat's trachea had been ripped out, along with hunks of their chest and belly, having been bleeding out immensely. There were no signs indicating that he was still alive.
"He's dead," Kassidy informed the giant bats, practically smelling the death from the deceased bat in the air.
"Figures," Goth apathetically said as he and Throbb joined the gothic Silverwing on the ground, "no animal could've survived something like that anyway."
"And no animal would've left their kill here just like that." Kassidy had her thinking cap on as the side of her index finger made contact with her lips, and she talked to herself. "Wouldn't the predator have eaten their kill by now? Why leave a carcass here and let it go to waste?"
"I don't see how this bat here should be any of your concern—this is a mystery that can't be solved, and it's as most prey's stories go: they either live or predators kill them."
Kassidy's brows crushed together, her eyes flitting over to Goth's. "Everyone's stories run deeper than that, not just on the surface. I would think you would know something like that by now." Her gaze went back to the lifeless body. "Besides, this is not normal for predators to do, and given that you two were born meat-eaters, would you ever abandon your kills?"
"Never, no matter the circumstances," Throbb truthfully said, seeing her point. "Even if I needed a drink of water, I wouldn't leave my kill out in the open."
A muscle popped in Goth's jaw, muttering how ridiculous this was, but he did not argue with Kassidy's statement as it was fair enough.
It was reasonable for most animals to walk/run away from cadavers or simply eat them. However, if a human body were ever found—dead or alive—serious matters were taken into the hands of law enforcement and people in the medical field. Given that this bat was brutally killed and left to rot, it did not settle well with Kassidy. Something wasn't right and with the bathunt on going… A lump of dread swelled in Kassidy's throat.
Did the owls…? Kassidy couldn't even bring herself to finish that sentence.
She wilted to her knees, studying the inflicted wounds… and that was when she discovered something rooted in the bat's stomach. Curious, Kassidy went to try and remove it to see what it was, only for the back of her forefinger to graze one of the bat's ribs, and a shock like electricity streaked through her body. The same type that happened to her earlier when she attempted to seize Goth's catch: painful. A yell tore from Kassidy's throat, blinding her from reality, with her pupils darting to the back of her head as something began to sweep through her vision.
Gruesome screams rendered the air, blood, organs, body parts, and feathers raining from the sky. Owls were massacring the colony, sparing no one as their talons scored through the bats' bodies, their sharp beaks penetrating flesh as their battle cry screeches rang through the air.
His heart rate quickened, terror lancing through him as he desperately searched for his family, praying to Nocturna that none of the owls had gotten hold of them. He strained his ears, trying to pick out his family's familiar voices as he breathed out heavy gusts of cold clouds, his lungs on fire as he winged his way through the throng of horror-stricken bats trying to save themselves or others from the owls going on a kill streak.
"Father!" A girl's scared voice called out.
He recognized it—his daughter.
"Sophie!" The father's voice carried out loud through the chaos, following Sophie's voice as he felt warm blood splattering him from the injured/killed victims, permeating his fur and overpowering his sense of smell.
He spat out echo visions that drew in his mind's eye only random colony members, that was until he made out a figure that made his heart stutter with panic and familiarization. The young she-bat's long midnight indigo hair whipped in the icy-cold air as she barreled through the sky, her gray-green eyes stretched wide open with fright as a large owl was on her heels. She was losing energy, panting with her wings about to give up on her, and it wouldn't be long until the owl caught up to her and…
"SOPHIE!" The father hollered, racing toward his daughter in hopes of rescuing her, his little girl.
His love more potent for his daughter than his apprehension of the owls, he knocked Sophie away from the owl's reach, sacrificing himself at the last second as talons and a beak ran through him and his heart.
Her cognizant slipped back in place, only to feel firm hands shaking her wildly like a water-filled plastic bag stuffed with goldfish. "Señorita, snap out of it!" Goth's voice sliced through to Kassidy.
A rush of air whisked its way into her body, her throat feeling splintered to the point she thought she might've lost her voice. Puke was ready to geiser out of her, but Kassidy forced it all backdown, almost crumpling to her knees from how weak she felt. Goth, once more, was there to prevent that, but not the blood that now dripped from the nostril.
"Is this how it will be for the rest of the day?" Goth spitefully said. "You repeatedly–"
"The owls…" Kassidy breathed out, her voice like sandpaper, many emotions concocting in her chest.
"Señorita," Throbb began saying, "are you–"
"They were killing bats: males, females, children… It was a bloodbath…"
Goth and Throbb furrowed their brows as they tried to make sense of her words. "What in Zotz's name are you talking about?" Goth demanded.
Kassidy managed to gaze up at the brothers-in-law slowly. "I… I think I saw another vision." Her eyes shifted to the bat corpse—the father of a bat named Sophie—and she carefully sank to her knees. She hummed to herself, eyeing one of the exposed ribs, and a thought danced through her mind. "I need to test something. Pull me away from the body if I undergo what I went through a couple of times now."
Throbb's jaw tensed. "Señorita, I don't think–"
Kassidy didn't hear the rest of what the tubby bat said as her hand griped one of the ribs, and the same vision began to flood her consciousness.
Gruesome screams rendered the air, blood, organs, body parts, and feathers raining from the sky. Owls were massacring the colony, sparing no—
Goth's arms were latched around her waist, dragging her like a suitcase a small distance from the corse before loosening his hold on Kassidy. The gothic Silverwing's breath was caught, vaguely aware of more blood leaking down her now-burning nostril to her lips and chin.
How… is this possible? Her question floated through her thoughts, mind-boggled. This has never happened before.
"Señorita Kassidy, your nose is bleeding," Throbb told her, and it seemed he was about to ask if she was okay, but nothing else left his mouth.
Kassidy merely sniffed before swabbing the blood away from her face with her forearm. "So it seems…" Was all she could say in a hoarse voice.
Goth dusted his wings off. "Well, at least no vomiting was involved," he referenced.
That was something Kassidy could agree on. "I don't know how the hell this is possible… but somehow, when I touched that rib, it showed me a vision of what that bat went through."
"You also mentioned you saw a vision when you touched that duck," Throbb provided.
Kassidy nodded while in her line of thought. "Not precisely the duck, but I think a bone part of theirs. And when I did, Goth was in it, like I said. This may sound insane, but… I think when I touched the bat and duck's bones, I saw how they died while observing off to the side in their bodies."
"You're right; that does sound insane," Goth didn't hesitate to say without care, a battle in his eyes between believing her or thinking she was out of her roost. He then folded his arms over his chest. "If you really did see me kill that duck, then pray tell us what I did to do so."
Kassidy pursed her lips at his mannerisms. Frankly, though, she had difficulty comprehending this as much as he and Throbb. After all, this defied all the laws of nature and science, cropping out of nowhere like some kind of evolution. Why did she now have this strange magic? And how exactly did she obtain it?
Setting those thoughts aside, Kassidy decided to get this over with and give out her answer, which she knew was as accurate as the color of her eyes. "You drained his life by clamping your teeth around his throat; a no-brainer you drew blood and devoided him of any air supply."
A heavy silence stretched through the air.
Quit talking to them, Kassidy chastised herself as Goth and Throbb were speechless. Get back to where you left off.
Without waiting for the duo to speak, she kneeled and went to pluck out what she saw earlier in the bat's stomach, and when she did, it was instantly perceivable, even while it was stained with blood: a half-split talon. The vision came crashing through the mirror of Kassidy's mind, giving her a recap like those clip montages at the beginning of an episode, all the while staring at the talon. She tightly curled her fingers around it, but after a few heartbeats had passed, she chucked it away and took off, flying deep into the forest.
"Where are you going?!" Goth yelled out.
Kassidy didn't return any words; her primary focus was fossicking for the bat's colony to see if there were any possible survivors. Following her sense of smell, she soon discovered more blood rivering through the snow… and a horrendous sight. Bat bodies, decapitated heads, dismembered limbs, and organs lay strewn on the ground, impaled by sharp tree branches or draped over them as if they were tarnished and tattered clothes. There was so much blood spattered everywhere, the smell of it and rotted flesh reeking the air. No peaceful deaths had come to pass for any of these bats.
Kassidy descended from the sky, grounding her feet in the snow that stole through her, and took in the sight, shock stirring in her stomach as her jaw dropped. She could not believe that the owls were this cruel to do such a thing to this colony. This was a new low, even for the owls.
She assessed each of the bats, noting their color schemes, and as she did, a feeling of remembrance rose in her chest, and that was when it clicked. The colony mainly consisted of gray colors—the Graywings. Memories of her encounter with them with Holden, Shade, and Marina came crossing through her occipital lobe, the moment when they were offered to join them, only for a few of the Graywings to show their true sides when they were condescending to her and Marina, and all because of Kassidy's gothic appearance and the band her friend adorned. Sure, their judgments were uncalled for, but that did not mean they deserved to get exterminated by owls.
How could the owls do this to them? And all because an owl got killed and their dumb beliefs that Kassidy was an evil witch seeking to destroy the animal kingdom and she had the giant bats working for her? Come on, not only was she framed, but that's also a cliche villain plot.
Kassidy carefully and slowly ventured through the carnage, alert in case any owls were nearby… until she heard something. It was faint at first, but as she listened closely, she began to understand it: weeping. Hurrying over to where it was coming from, Kassidy soon found herself at the mouth of a rotted log. Dried blood had marked its place, but she was more concerned about the reverberating weeps of what sounded like agony. Was it a survivor or a trap?
Taking her chances, she ducked into the log, and within a few footsteps, she came across someone curled up in a ball, sobs wracking her body. Upon closer examination, Kassidy comprehended a young Graywing who was still alive! The Graywing was lying in her own blood, having received many nasty wounds, and it was nothing short of a miracle that she was still living and breathing. She was missing something, though, that almost made Kassidy gasp. Wings. Wholly stripped of them and nowhere to be found.
Anchoring her knees to the ground, Kassidy acted instinctually and caressed the Graywing's hair in a comforting way.
The young one flinched from the contact, whimpering, and likely would've pulled away had their lacerations not gotten in the way of that.
"Hey, it's okay," Kassidy assured, ignoring the tenderness in her throat. "I'm a friend." She gently shushed her like a mother comforting their child. "You can trust me; I won't hurt you."
It took about a minute, but the tension then loosened across the bat's shoulders a little, seeming to believe Kassidy's words. Slowly, she tilted her head up, her bottom lip busted open with blood oozing down her chin, but the thing that stood out to her the most was her eyes, which were gray-green. Dread drummed in time with Kassidy's heart as her ocean-blue eyes poured over the Graywing—the eyes, the long midnight indigo hair with some parts of it coated in blood…
Sophie, Kassidy realized, the name never dwindling from her thoughts.
Whether she was put off by her or not, Sophie showed no signs of that as she quietly said, "Who… are you?"
"My name's Kassidy," the human-turned-bat softly returned. "What's yours?" While she already knew it, she didn't want to scare the bat and acted oblivious.
"S–Sophie…"
"That's a pretty name."
Sophie began to dissolve into a fit of coughing, blood flying out of her mouth.
Kassidy did not hesitate to rub the Graywing's back. "Take it easy. Try to breathe slowly."
Her coughing finally simmered down. Sophie took Kassidy's advice and breathed in as much air as possible before releasing it a couple of times. "Th–they came from the blackness…"
"The owls?"
Sophie managed to nod. "I can still h–hear the screeches and screaming, b–bones snapping, blood squelching… I can still smell it everywhere…" Her lips quivered, tears gathering in her eyes. "I c–can s–still see… everyone around me d–dying… They killed my friends, my parents… everyone." At that point, the tears rolled down her cheeks, and the Graywing trembled. "They e–even took my w–wings!" It wasn't long until she wept uncontrollably.
Kassidy's lips pressed into a thin line, knowing Sophie's pain. No child should be subjected to this, especially if they were never in the wrong. Rage coursed through Kassidy's veins, flames fuming in her chest and sparking to life in her eyes as she squeezed her hand into a fist. Her mind was open fire with all the swear words she could think of at the owls, despising what they did. She wanted to unleash the inferno of her fury for all to hear and see, find the owls responsible for decimating the Graywings, and roast them until they were nothing more than ashes. That was if she were impulsive enough.
Kassidy smothered the firestorm inside her, willing herself to try and calm down, remembering to do her simple breathing exercise. Keep it together, Kass, she reminded herself.
Sophie coughed up more blood. "They t–took e–everything," She sobbed, wheezing. "Everything…"
Kassidy longed to heal Sophie with her magic, have a makeshift tourniquet at the ready to stop the bleeding, hell, even grab any of the passed-on bats' wings and sew them onto the young Graywing… But even then, it would not cure the trauma, a scar she would always bear for as long as she was alive, and no magic could resolve that. Sophie had no one and was all alone. Kassidy couldn't let her suffer and try to move on as if nothing had ever happened. No. She never even deserved this.
An ache splintered through Kassidy's heart, tears building up behind her eyes, but she forced them back down before she could gaze back at Sophie, determined to stay strong, for she could pick out the fear in her gray-green eyes of the events that took place. She seemed petrified to die as well. Death was counting the young Graywing's remaining heartbeats, and it was at that moment that there in fact was something Kassidy could do for Sophie in her final breaths.
She took one of the Graywing's ice-cold hands in hers, and perhaps more out of reflex than anything, Sophie's fingers wrapped around Kassidy's tightly. "They took everything…" Sophie repeated, her shaking subsiding a bit.
"I know," Kassidy murmured, gingerly combing her fingers through the Graywing's limp hair. "I know."
Sophie's eyes shifted to Kassidy's, pleading her not to let go.
"I'm right here. It's going to be okay." Though it could've passed as a lie, Kassidy just wanted Sophie's passing to be less distressing. "You'll be with your parents, friends, and the rest of your colony again. You'll get your wings back."
Sophie struggled to keep her eyes open. "You promise?"
Kassidy willed her mouth not to tremble. "I promise."
She wished for something else to say, something more to offer Sophie than her empty promises. Nothing came, though.
Sophie managed a slight smile and shut her eyes. She heaved one final sigh, and her hand went limp in Kassidy's.
The giant bats had watched it all by the log's mouth. Kassidy's back was turned to them, and she either didn't know that they were there, or she did, and she simply didn't care. All her attention had solely been on comforting that Graywing named Sophie.
Goth couldn't get a glimpse of Kassidy's face, but what she did for the young bat was something unexpected. He figured she would've just walked away and let death take care of the rest or would do some healing, but no… Kassidy stayed by the Graywing's side until the life bled from her face, comforting her. It was, oddly enough, a kind gesture in something tragic as this, especially with bodies piled out in the snow with the blood that came with it.
Kassidy planted a delicate kiss on the Graywing's head. "You're free now," she whispered.
Then, the gothic Silverwing climbed to her feet, took a few steps back, and extended her hand. Blades of grass materialized around the ground like a bed for Sophie, stems shooting until they blossomed into fully grown, beautiful white lilies—a way to honor the Graywing. Kassidy extracted one of the lilies and placed it in Sophie's lifeless hands.
Goth blinked at a loss for words as snow started to fall in fat drifting flakes, dotting his and Throbb's hair and mane. What kind of person was Kassidy truly? She was but a mystery.
After a moment of silence, Kassidy finally started to make her way out, and once she was outside, Goth finally found his voice. "Why?" He questioned, tilting his head to the side. "Why did you do that for her?"
Kassidy skated her gaze over Goth's. Her expression was complicated to make out, snowflakes gravitating and catching in her hair and mane like glittering garlands, and the tip of her nose grew rosy with the cold. "Because I wouldn't want to die alone," she said, allowing her words to sink into Goth and Throbb. "Because I'd want someone to hold my hand until the end and a while after that. That's something everyone deserves, human, bat, or any other species."
Spanish translations:
¿Honestamente va a seguir comiendo insectos mientras continuamos nuestro viaje? = Is she honestly going to keep eating insects as we continue our journey?
¿Debería importar eso? = Should that matter?
Simplemente no entiendo por qué no come carne. Tiene sangre carnívora, pero no ha comido carne desde hace unas noches. Es como si se muriera de hambre si sigue recurriendo a los insectos. = I just don't understand why she won't eat meat. She has carnivorous blood in her, yet she hasn't eaten any flesh since a few nights ago. She might as well starve out here if she keeps resorting to insects.
Si quiere comer insectos, esa es su elección tanto como la elección de cualquier otra persona sobre lo que quiere comer. = If she wants to eat insects, that's her choice as much as anyone else's choice on what they want to eat.
Comer alimentos preferidos no es una opción para la supervivencia; comes lo necesario para que tu dieta sobreviva. = Eating preferred foods is not a choice for survival; you eat what is necessary for your diet to survive.
Puedo entender lo que ambos están diciendo, lo saben = I can understand what you're both saying, you know.
En su mayor parte, sí. = For the most part, yes.