(ROUGH DRAFT) Endless Sky ~Elemental Chaos~

Chapter Eighteen

Avaro spotted a gathering of cats, much similar to when Cinder was having a trial. Though this time there was a big pink fluffed out angry cat in the middle.
Spike and Blaze were gone, his only guess being they decided to go for front row tickets. Avaro, on the other hand, stuck with Lucerne near the back. He didn't need strong cat ears to hear what Zeru was yowling.
"Gone! Someone had broken in, knocked out our guards, and helped him escape!" The leader spat out, lashing his tail. "I've already have some of our best trackers to find the culprit, but if you see him, KILL HIM!"
Avaro frowned at the last part, having expected as such. Though he couldn't help wonder who would actually kill Cinder on sight, or simply help him stay hidden.
"Cinder should be with Sunset and Renny right now, in a totally different world. There's no way he can be found," Avaro reassured himself, assuming the other two elementals were also with him.
He glanced at Lucerne, the celestial's face blank from emotion.
"Lucerne?" Avaro nudged his friend.
"Hm?" He looked over and blinked. "You alright? You look a bit glazed," the dragon commented, motioning to his face.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just didn't want to look suspicious," Lucerne admitted, glancing at at the puffed out Zeru.
"Well looking oddly glazed sure is suspicious," Avaro pointed out.
Lucerne's expression changed to fear. "Really?!" He exclaimed, worried.
"Maybe just to me!" Avaro quickly responded. "I'm just not used to you looking like that, Zeru might see otherwise,"
The Celestial Beast still looked uncertain, but nodded. "Alright..."
Avaro turned back to the leader. He'd flattened his fur mostly and was snapping orders at some of the one's in front. His voice too low to be heard.
"Do you think he'll suspect us?" Lucerne whispered, keeping his eyes on Zeru.
"Doubtful, they have trackers on the site, they wont smell our scents there," Avaro replied with a shrug before walking off.
"Where are you going?!" Lucerne exclaimed, quickly following him.
"We can't hear much, nor part of the issue, nor can do anything to help. There's no point in staying," he answered, heading out of the village.
"We also need to meet up with Renny,"
"In the middle of the woods?"
"Yes,"
Lucerne frowned, confused on how the young woman would find them outside the village. Unless she had some kind of tracker, trying to find the two would be equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.
After awhile of walking, Avaro stopped, finding a nice small clearing to relax in.
"Here we go," he said before sitting on a nearby fallen log. It crunched under his weight and he instantly stood back up.
"Nope, not sitting there," Avaro stated, looking back at the dent he'd just made. An eruption of blue ant like bugs were spilling out, searching for the attacker.
Lucerne peered over and inhaled sharply. "None got on you, did they?" He asked.
"You can look at my butt and find out," Avaro replied, turning around and getting the back of his head smacked.
"I'm not looking at your butt!" Lucerne exclaimed, embarrassed.
"Alright alright," Avaro chuckled, patting himself down just in case, even though he was sure none had the time to cling on.
Lucerne crossed his arms and walked over to the other side of the clearing, looking up at the trees. Gantianits scurrying around.
"...You know we can't save them all," he unexpectedly said.
"Hm? Sure we can. Except Zeru, he can stay," Avaro responded as he watched the log. Hypnotized by the mass of blue dots.
"No not that. The other animals, like the gantianits," his friend corrected.
"What were those again?" Avaro asked as he broke free from the trance. Heading over to stand by the celestial and look up. "Those things right?"
Lucerne nodded, keeping his eyes to the trees. "We can't save them all, they're too many. We'll never be able to get every single one of them" he said quietly, almost at a whisper.
Avaro watched a gantianit swing upsidedown, its hind feet holding it up as it ate a berry in its forepaws. It honestly looked cute.
"Maybe we can save some?" He offered, directing his attention back to his friend.
Lucerne shook his head. "I don't know what the other ecosystem has, they could be invasive,"
"Or they could be native,"
"The sudden change might still kill them," Lucerne turned to Avaro, looking distraught with tears in his eyes. "Hey now, it's alright, really," Avaro tried to comfort, alarmed at the sudden sensitivity.
The celestial shook his head again
"It's not fair for them to possibly go extinct, to suddenly vanish as if they never existed!" He cried, raising his voice. Avaro stepped back, startled. He couldn't remember the last time Lucerne raised his voice like that, maybe he never did.
His friend seemed to have noticed Avaro's expression and quickly calmed down. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean yo yell," he apologized. "It's okay..." Avaro responded quietly, offering a hug.
Lucerne stared at him, as if debating whenever or not to take the offer.
"I just..." He started before accepting the hug. "Never thought I'd see another world go..." He added quietly, Avaro almost missing it entirely.
"Another world?" He looked down and frowned. Tempted to ask what Lucerne meant by that.
"Am I interrupting something?" A familiar voice asked, the two quickly breaking apart.
Renny stood there awkwardly, glancing at the log where the bugs had mostly vanished.
"Nope, not at all," Avaro answered, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
"Well good, I'd like to know what I missed yesterday," Renny said as she sat down on the grass. Looking up expectantly.
Avaro glanced at Lucerne only to realize he too, had sat down.
"Ah right, yesterday," he huffed and lowered himself to the ground.
"You never did come back,"
"Yeah I know, I didn't think getting Sunset to save Cinder would be so hard," Renny admitted. "But in the end I got her to, and helped a little,"
The other two looked alarmed.
"Don't worry! I never did anything here. I was just preparing a place for them to stay," the potion maker quickly reassured. "Three giant cats are quite a handful!" She laughed, stopping when no one joined.
"So... What about you two?"
"Well, we spoke to a few cats..." Avaro started, diving into the previous day. He spoke the most, Lucerne occasionally adding something in or correcting. Other than that, it was a quick recall of events, even Spike's story.
By the end of it Renny looked surprised, perhaps even a bit hopeful.
"Well, seems like starting a Zeru hate group is going to be rather easy," she snickered, nodding and going through a small satchel she's brought along.
"Well we only got about five members with over a hundred to go," Avaro said blankly, the woman completely ignoring.
He watched as she pulled out a small notebook, a pencil slid into its rings.
"What's that for?" He asked.
"Taking short notes, they're helpful at times," Renny giggled as she scribbled things down.
"Honestly, she acts like a child at times," Avaro whispered to Lucerne, the celestial beast making no reaction.
"Alright, done," she announced before getting up, slipping the pencil and notebook back into her satchel. "Let's go spread more awareness, I missed it all yesterday,"
"Alright, we're coming," Avaro heaved himself to his feet and helped Lucerne up too. "You sound a bit excited when we could get mobbed and killed at any time," he pointed out.
"I just really want to save some cats alright? My best friend happens to be related to them you know," Renny grumbled before scurrying off, practically abandoning the other two.
"Lets go," Avaro nudged his friend and walked on, heading back to the village.
"I hope she doesn't start screaming to the world about this world's demise," he prayed. If Renny died, Avaro was sure Sunset would leave her kind to meet the same fate.
But if put in a similar situation, Avaro would have to admit we would've done the same. It was karma doing its thing.
The entrance to the village was empty, no guards.
A little odd, but Avaro didn't care at the moment. If anything they could be swapping positions or out looking for Cinder. Or maybe Zeru just didn't see the need for guards anymore.
The gathering of cats had long since disbanded, Zeru no where in sight.
"Good." Avaro thought as he spotted Spike and Blaze.
"Come on," he said to Lucerne, heading over to his friends.
"There you two are!" Blaze exclaimed, puffing up as the two made their way over.
"We weren't gone that long!" Avaro protested, frowning.
"But Zeru didn't like how you two left, he was questioning us about it," the elemental whined, sitting down.
"He was?" Avaro exchanged a worried glance with Lucerne.
"We told him you left to look for him," Spike meowed. "That you didn't understand why Cinder would ditch everyone like that,"
"Did it work?"
"Maybe?" Spike shrugged and looked nervously behind her. "He thanked us for the information and left. I don't know where he went after that,"
"Great, wonderful," Avaro groaned, facepalming.
"I'm sure it'll be alright, any of you two seen Renny? Another human besides us two?" He decided to ask, not wanting to worry about Zeru at the moment.
"I saw her not too long ago," Blaze mewed. "But I wasn't paying attention so I don't know where she went,"
"At least we know she made it here safely," Avaro sighed, turning to his friend. "You alright? You haven't said much,"
Lucerne nodded, but continued to stay silent. Avaro frowned.
"Excuse us, you two can continue the plan. We'll join later," Avaro said to the cats, taking the celestial's hand and briskly walking off.
Lucerne didn't protest, simply matched Avaro's pace to keep from being dragged.
Avaro took his friend back to their den, slowing down and slipping inside.
"Alright," he let go of Lucerne's hand and turned to face him. Crossing his arms. "What's the matter?"
The celestial beast avoided eye contact and sighed. "It's nothing, really, I just feel bad for the critters, thats all..." He responded in a low voice.
"I know, but we have to focus on the elementals right now," Avaro said, stepping forward to place a hand on Lucerne's shoulder.
"They're the ones who need our help, they're the ones stuck under a cruel leadership living in the wrong habitat,"
He glanced outside the den, shadows of moving cats sweeping around.
"All those other critters live freely, and will live freely till their end, a happy life. Sure it's cut short, but better to live a short happy life than a long miserable one,"
Lucerne finally looked up at Avaro, tears once more filling his eyes.
For some reason, Avaro felt like something odd was going to happen.
"You'll be fine," he added before quickly pulling back, the odd feeling vanishing.
"You're right..." His friend nodded, wiping his eyes. "We have to focus on the cats right now, I'll rejoin the others," he said before turning and leaving the den.
Avaro watched him go, feeling as if he'd just missed an important opportunity.