Intertwined

Hedwig

He didnt really understand what was happening, only that the pain that had been a constant friend when he first woke up was back. It was a bone-deep ache that filled his entire body and made him exhausted. His mind sluggish and his thoughts slow. Ever since waking up, this pain has been in the back of his mind, but it came to light again with the recent events. The pounding was the worst. It felt like he was small, locked in a tight space with someone banging on the door and making the whole room vibrate. They wouldnt stop, and he just wanted to hide away, wishing that if he put his hands over his ears, it would stop. However, the person on the other side was urgent, yelling at him through the door.

He was brought back to reality by a gentle swipe of trees on his underbelly. Locked in his thoughts, he didnt notice that he was slowly losing altitude until he was almost crashing into the canopy. Now that he was focusing, he could feel his muscles straining and his body overheating. It was his abdomen that was hurting the worst, though. With each flap of his wings, his stomach contracted to send blinding stabs of pain throughout his body, radiating from the wound.

He started to decrease his altitude intentionally this time. He needed to get down to the ground and fast before the pain tore him from the sky. He was still too far from his home, but flying was not an option any longer.

When he landed, he immediately tried to change back, which sent a new rippling wave of agony through him. As he painstakingly transformed back into his other form, the blood starts to flow from his wound again as the plaster ripped. Due to his abrupt change into his Ikranay form earlier, the dressing had already taken a lot of damage. As such, with this second transformation, it ultimately started falling apart and coming off.

As quick as he could, his newly transformed hands were back and putting pressure on the wound.

He was stumbling through the dense forest, the nighttime vegetation guiding his path forward. While one hand kept the pressure on his stomach, the other was grasping onto anything it could to keep him upright. It was a terribly slow process moving forward with his entire upper body hunched forward and his steps more of a shuffle than anything. A sharp flare of pain caused him to stop. Wincing, he tried to curl up even more into himself to ward off the pain.

Why did it always seem like he was in pain? Did some mysterious force out there love to see him in pain?

Dwelling on his terrible luck wouldnt get him anywhere, so after moping for a minute, he got back on his feet and decided to carry on. Merlin forbids this wasn't the worst pain he has been in.

Wait.

Who is Merlin?

Again, that angry little man was pounding away insistently in his mind. It felt like there was something just out of reach, and it was constantly slipping through his hands. And this angry little man pounding at his skull was determined that he learned what it was. No matter how good the intentions of this little metaphorical angry man were, he wanted to squash it. On top of the pain from his wound, this force was literally bringing him to his knees.

His knees hit the canopy floor with a wet squelch. Apparently, he was close to a marsh, but that really wasnt a significant factor right now. Right now, he decided it would be the perfect time to shove his face in the lovely, cool mud. Maybe that would cool the angry demon inside off?

Before he could, however, he heard a loud screech that did absolutely nothing for his headache. Snapping his head up, another horrible move to be honest, he saw a gliding form of an ikranay floating down from the canopy. His hackles went on the rise before he realized who it was.

Apparently, in his blind stumbling haze, he had made it further back to his home than he thought. He was never as grateful as he was then to see the giant beast walking its way toward him. Jadwiga had come right before he gave himself a mud facial.

He uncurled from his fetal position on the ground as she lumbered closer. With as much strength as he could, he pushed himself up and shakily got to his feet. His legs were shaking, and his arms felt like lead. When he tried to take a step forward, he almost face-planted once more. However, Jadwiga had come closer to him, and instead, he fell face-first into her.

He threw his arms around Jadwigas neck and held on tightly. He hasnt felt warmth like this in a while, and then she started affectionately pecking at his hair. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, suddenly filled with so much love for this animal. She had been looking for him all this time. Slowly he raised his hand up to her face and cupped the side. Jadwiga starts to nuzzle into her beak into his hand before gently beginning to nibble on this fingers.

It was like the dam broke loose, and the angry little man was finally free.

He had to slam his eye closed as images started pouring forth. Flashes of random scenes and people barreling past his eyes. All of them of a white feathery animal.

Owls. His mind gently supplied him with.

A hand reaching out to pet the owl. Then it was a blur flying through the air. Dropping something from the sky. Sitting inside of a cage. Sitting beside him.

Always beside him.

And then a flash of green light. After that, nothing except an overwhelming sense of loss and grief.

When the flashes of scenes stopped, he was left gasping and choking on air. It wasnt a pretty sight; he was once again curled up into a fetal position leaning up against Jadwiga. He couldnt get any air to his lungs. Why was there no air?

Ugly sobs started racking his body. His entire body was shaking, shivering from some unperceived cold that was penetrating his body. It felt like he was slowly going numb. He brought his hands up to his head and gripped his hair, yanking on it viscously. His eyes squeezed shut, tears pouring out the corner of them in a never-ending stream.

What was happening? Why was his chest so tight?

In between his sobs, he started to hyperventilate. His hands moved from his hair to his chest and started clawing, trying to reach the middle and make it stop. His heart was trying to beat out of his ribs. It was like a thousand direhorses stampeding over his chest. The grief started crawling up his throat, choking him on the intensity of it. His sobbing trailed off until all that you could hear on the canopy floor were desperate gasps for air.

And then there were hands on him. Hands trying to pull him away from the comforting heat of Jadwigas body. He started thrashing in their hold, trying to shake them off.

No! No, no, no! Over and over, he repeated this mantra, quietly at first and then rising in pitch until he was practically screeching it. He clawed at the hands and what he presumed was the chest. His eyes stayed closed the entire time, afraid that if he opened them again, another scene would attack his senses. He couldnt handle another one; it felt like he would rip at the seams if he did.

No! he cried desperately as the hands ripped him from his place beside Jadwiga. The person got more firm and tried to hold his arms down, trapping him.

But he couldnt be separated from her again. He needed her by his side; she wasnt allowed to leave him all alone again. He was always alone.

With a final panicked screech, he head-butted the person holding him down. However, the persons head was solid as a rock, so it resulted in his head starting to pulse violently. But he needed to get back to Jadwiga; he needed her. So he started thrashing wildly, trying to buck this person off of him.

Finally, he cracked open his eyes just as he saw a fist coming down. The last thing he saw was the boy from before, his face twisted in panic. And then nothing.

His last thought was of his beautiful Hedwig.