Cursed Flames

The Sunset Before Twilight

The ride from the harbor was mostly smooth sailing. There were very little obstacles for the boat to avoid meaning the boat didn't have to swerve too hard to either side and simply had to continue straight for now. On the top side of the boat, Fang and his crew were constantly in motion. Whether it be from making sure nothing fell off the boat or doing constant checkups on all the equipment and other supplies, nothing seemed to be quiet. The noise from the top, though muffled, could be heard from the lower level of the boat where Flaro and the pack were sitting and talking amongst themselves. It had been at least thirty minutes after Fang had pushed Flaro down the stairs, but the girls were still checking on Flaro's well being every now an then. Elera asked, "Are you sure you're ok?" Flaro smiled weakly. "Yes I'm fine. I've already said that about five times already." Phoenix spoke up, "We know, but- It was just surprising to see Fang push you down the stairs like that." Flaro rubbed the back of his neck. "I feel like it was deserved though." Reyna looked at Flaro. "What do you mean 'deserved'? You didn't deserve to be shoved down the stairs just for being curious." Flaro spoke quietly, "It was a stupid thing for me to do. Anyone could've seen me and it would've caused so many problems that none of us need." Reyna moved right infront of Flaro and stared him in the eyes. "Don't say that. You're curiosity isn't stupid and neither are you. Just 'cause some other wolf pushed you down doesn't mean you were inherently wrong. You could've been seen, sure, but there was an entire crew moving around distracting anyone who might've seen you. I don't want you acting like it's ok for others to push you down physically or figuratively, ok?" Flaro slowly straightened his posture and nodded. Reyna took a step back from Flaro and smiled. Flaro smiled back. His smile felt real now and he thanked the girls for being there for him. The hatch opened back up and Fang made his way down the steps and toward the pack. "We're in a safe place for you to go outside now." Fang spoke in a quiet tone. As Fang walked closer, Flaro could feel himself turning away as he tried not to look his direction. The girls saw how Flaro was behaving and moved themselves to separate Fang and Flaro before another argument could break out. Fang put his hands in his pockets and slouched a little, "Look if you're still upset about earlier, I'm sorry alright?" Flaro sat quietly still staring at the wall. "I didn't want to shove you down the stairs, but I couldn't risk you being seen. It was the only thing I could think of at the time and... well I kinda regret it." Flaro sighed and partially looked at Fang keeping his vision mostly off of him. "It's fine. Water under the bridge. Er boat? You get what I'm saying." Fang grinned a little and looked relieved. "Yeah, I do. I also wanted to ask something." Flaro looked at Fang properly this time. "What is it?" Fang took his hands out of his pockets. "It might sound a little boring, but we kinda need a few extra pairs of hands to help with tasks up top. If it's not too much to ask-" Reyna stood up. "We can help you." She motioned for Elera and Phoenix to stand. Flaro was about to get up when Reyna put her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her for a moment and she looked back. He sat back down without saying a word. Fang stated, "This shouldn't take too long. My crew, or pack, whichever you prefer, can handle most of the stuff we do daily, but we're down a few people recently and some of the tasks have become more 'problematic' so to speak." Reyna spoke. "We understand just tell us what we're doing and how to do it. I'm sure it won't be that difficult." Fang smiled "Sweet. I'll tell you more up top." He walked back out to the top of the ship with Elera and Reyna following close behind. Phoenix was about to exit through the hatch when she turned around to see Flaro sitting by himself. She made her way back to the table and sat next to him. "Hey Flaro." He looked at her. "Oh. Hey Phoenix. I thought you left with the others." "I was about to, but then I saw you sitting here all alone and thought you could use some company. If they absolutely need my help they'll come get me. For now I wanted to talk to you." "About what?" "I don't know... anything really." Flaro took a minute to think of a topic they could talk about. "I am actually really curious about something." Phoenix tilted her head. "What is it?" "You seem to be really quiet sometimes. I can never figure out why." Phoenix tried not to trip over her words. "Well, I'm... just a quiet person. Talking isn't something I'm very good at over long periods of time. It tends to get me in trouble more than I'd like." She looked down a bit. Flaro look at her and shifted his body to face her. "What do you mean it tends to get you in trouble?" Phoenix grabbed her arm softly at first. "You already saw what happened at the top of the mountain. I can't control myself when I start talking sometimes. Especially when it's an argument." Flaro sat quietly as Phoenix kept talking. "The worst part is that I don't think the way most people do. I don't like relying on hope or dreams. You can have both and do whatever you want with them, but I would rather have solid facts and strategy instead of just hoping for the best, y'know?" Flaro nodded. "I can understand that. I don't want to argue too much about either side though." Phoenix agreed. "Yeah, that's probably for the best." Phoenix looked at Flaro. "I have a couple questions for you. One of them is about when we were teasing you." Flaro got a little embarrassed. "Oh. W-what exactly do you wanna know?" "Well, were you actually jealous?" Flaro rubbed the back of his head. "M-maybe... a little." Phoenix giggled and spoke jokingly. "I'll ask another question to spare you the embarrassment." Before she spoke, she made sure to get a good look at Flaro's face. "Why haven't you been able to get any sleep the last few nights? It seems like you only just got the rest you needed." Flaro looked at the table trying to think of another excuse similar to the one he used when Reyna asked him the same question. "I'm just used to sleeping on a comfy bed I guess." He thought what he said was a horrible excuse, but Phoenix seemed to just roll with it and punched him playfully in the arm. "Hey, our beds were comfy. Even if they weren't 'royal' beds they were pretty good." Flaro chuckled. "You're right. And I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you guys for letting me stay with you... even after what happened at the village." Phoenix put her hand on his back. "Don't worry about the village too much. It wasn't exactly a fulfilling life we were living there. Reyna was the only one allowed to leave during the day, meaning me and Elera were stuck underground almost all day every day. We were lucky enough to persuade Reyna to let us leave during the night, and even that took a few days of convincing." Flaro thought for a second. "So does that mean this is the most sunlight you've seen in a few months?" Phoenix started rubbing her shoulder. "More like a year or two... for me at least. You could ask Elera later if you're that curious." "So then the heat must've really been a problem since you were down in the cold catacombs." Phoenix, still rubbing her shoulder gave a vague response. "Sort of. Maybe?" She seemed agitated. Flaro noticed quickly. "You ok?" Phoenix nodded her head. "Yeah... just a bit of sunburn." Flaro tried to look at how badly she was burned when he saw a large red spot that started on the back of her neck and continued down under her shirt. He couldn't see the burn past that, but he assumed it was just as bad as what he could already see. "Why don't you use your magic to heal yourself?" Flaro tilted his head afterwards. Phoenix looked at him slightly confused. "Well, what if someone gets hurt? I mean seriously hurt. I can't waste my magic on such a minor thing or I might not have enough energy to heal a lethal wound." Flaro thought to himself. While it was frustrating, he knew she was right. Suddenly, Flaro had an idea. "What if I heal you?" Phoenix laughed a little. "Since when did you know healing magic?" Flaro grinned. "I don't, but I know someone who does." Phoenix realized his thought process and was skeptical at first. "How can I teach you healing magic if we don't have the same powers?" Flaro simply snaped a small green flame into existence on the tip of his index finger. "The same way my father taught me how to mix magic with my own." Phoenix was still rather pessimistic about the whole thing. "Won't fire just cancel out the healing by burning you more?" Flaro didn't know the answer to that question. He was able to heal himself with basic fire if it was his own, but this was new. "There's only one way to find out." Phoenix finally gave in as she noticed that her sunburn was getting worse slowly as she rubbed it. "Fine. I can try to teach you... just don't expect me to be a good teacher."
Meanwhile on the top side of the boat, Reyna, Elera, Fang, and his crew were all hard at work. Fang had led the girls to a bunch of crates and boxes that hadn't been secyred yet. "Alright girls. This here is a bunch of supplies that's meant to be delivered to Greyshore. Most of the crew managed to get the other supplies safely secucure except this bit right here. Your job is simple. Tie these boxes down using rope nets and some hooks. There should be a few little chains to attach the hooks to near the crates. When you finish, come find me ok?" The girls nodded and began working immediately. Reyna had taken the safety nets nearby and started tossing them over all of the crates. Once Reyna made sure none of the ropes were tangled or damaged, she let Elera hook the nets up to the chains. They were both being extra careful not to make a mistake because they had no idea what the consequences would be. Even if the consequences didn't affect them, they didn't want to be responsible for Fang losing a shipment, or worse, his ship. The sun had made its way into the center of the sky by the time Reyna and Elera finished tying up the supplies. Reyna wiped the sweat off of her face. "Fang was right. That wasn't so bad." Elera agreed. "Yeah. Just a bit tedious after a while." The sun was repeating its same routine as when the psck was walking toward the coast. Reyna looked up and used her hand to shade her eyes. "Damn, it's hot." Elera let out a deep sigh of exhaustion. "At least this time we have the sea breeze to cool us off." Reyna looked at Elera and smiled. "You know... we've been on this boat for a while now and never once have we tried taking in the view." Elera shook her head. "It's because we were working. Plus we weren't allowed to for a while." Reyna walked over to the edge of the boat and rested her arms on the railing. "What's stopping us now?" Elera followed Rayna's lead and rested near the railing as well. "What if Fang needs us to do more stuff?" Reyna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had never been on a boat before, let alone while it was sailing. None of the pack had. It was a new experience for all of them. "Reyna? Earth to Reyna?" Elera was waving her hand in front of Reyna's face. "Huh? Oh um... Don't worry about Fang or the work. If he needs us he'll come get us." "But he said to go find him when we finished." Reyna looked at Elera, a bit puzzled. "Since when did you care so much about following orders?" Elera stood up striaght. "What's that supposed to mean?" Reyna realized she had said something wrong. "I don't mean it like that. I'm just saying that Fang had only said to find him when we're done. If it was urgetnt he'd be checking on us. I know you're a hard worker. You and Phoenix both." Elera slowly slouched back down. "I guess I'm just worried what will happen if we don't do what he says." Reyna looked at Elera. "Are you scared of him?" Elera shook her head while chuckling. "Hell no. It's just- We're stowaways riding on his boat. He has leverage over us. What if he knows what's waiting for us on the island and isn't telling us?" Reyna was taken back a bit by Elera's question. "What do you mean?" Elera looked over the rails and stared at the parting waves splashing against the hull of the ship. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just being weird. I like to be optimistic. You know that. Phoenix might hate it sometimes, but it's just wuat I tend to do. And I know what I'm about to say is gonna sound selfish. Just... let me finish before you jduge me to harshly." Reyna gave Elera her full attention as Elera took a deep breath. "I have a hard time trusting people. All of us do obviously, but I have a different reason as to why. We already know the moon lord is my father and that he was abusing me, but I thought I had escaped him a long time ago. I thought that the war and the destruction would be able to hide me from him. For the longest time I thought I was free. Then I opened my eyes to see that I went from a cage meant to keep me safe, wven if the outcome would be losing my sense of self, to a cage that's meant to let me rot in darkness and regret." Reyna didn't say anything and let Elera continue. "That's not even the worst part. My father... he-" she put her hands on her forehesd and looked stressed. "He fiund me again. Maybe he never even truly lost me and was just waiting for thebrighr time. Who knows?" Reyna asked. "How do you know you're father had found you?" Elera let out a sarcastic chuckle. "The village. When all hell broke loose, we fought for our lives. Little did I know that my father had people, wolves or not, stalking me. The only reason I was safe was because nobody knew about or hideout. When the fight broke out however and the villagers had gotten a hold of me, I saw someone amonst the choas bearing a silver crecent and a moonstone to complete the circular shape. Theybhad to be working for my father and they were trying to fight there way to get to me. The only reason I'm still here is because Flaro managed to save us. I tried looking for the charm again as we were all recovering and gathering food and water, but it was no where to be seen amonst the corpses. They had gotten away, either to tell my father or to keep following us. I'm worried who I can trust now more than ever." Reyna was almost slack jawed at Elena's whole story. She spoke carefully at first trying not to provoke Elera. "You can always trust the pack. I've been here for you ever since I found you and took you in, and that's something I'll never regret doing." Elera smiled and wiped at her eyes that were now tearing up. "Thank you Reyna. I really needed to hear that right now." Reyna smiled back softly. "Anything for a pack member." They hugged for a bit before Fang had shown up cutting their bonding moment short. "I see you two finished tying up the crates." The girls nodded. "Good work. I'd ask you to do more, but this partnof the ride always gets a bit exciting." Reyna and Elera looked at each other and then back at Fang in confusion. "Just get your tails down stairs a-s-a-p. Don't want you two getting lost at sea now would we?" Fang walked away and started shouting something at his crew. Reyna and Elera couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but his crew understood immediately and everyone moved almost perfectly synchronized to certain areas on the deck. Reyna and Elera took this time to quickly make their way downstairs like Fang had told them and closed the trapdoor behind them. As the door slammed shut behind them, they noticed Phoenix and Flaro using their magic. It was an interesting thing to see considering how Phoenix rarely showed people her magic because of its limited energy usage, and Flaro has only used his magic a few times, so seeing him change a normal flame into a cool blue flame on command was interesting as well. Reyna and Elera sat down by Flaro and Phoenix and immediately questioned what they were doing. "So what's this little magic show?" Reyna asked cheerfully. Phoenix spoke up before Flaro could say anything. "I'm teaching Flaro how to heal use healing magic." Elera and Reyna were both shocked and surprised. They never thought about teaching Flaro to use their magic. It wasn't even really an option to them. Elera thought for a second. "So wait... how are you teaching him, exactly?" Phoenix looked at her magic as it rested in her palm. "I- don't really know." She looked at Flaro and finally gave him a chance to speak. "Somehow, I'm a pretty good visual learner. The minute I see how magic ticks, I can sort of recreate it. I'm sure with enough practice I can get the hang of it." Elera's eye had lit up . "That's so cool! You gotta teach me how to learn that fast! There are no exceptions or excuses allowed." Phoenix chimed in. "Let me finish teaching him first, ok? He can only teach you after he learns form the best." Elera, Phoenix, and Flaro all started laughing and continued talking amongst themselves. Reyna looked at all of them as they were enjoying each other's company. A smile had snuck its way onto her face and she had started feeling so much joy in her heart knowing that her pack was not only surviving, but that it was alive.