(ROUGH DRAFT) Endless Sky ~Elemental Chaos~

Chapter Twentythree

Avaro returned to his friends, a mass of cats having built up at this point. Two lines of elementals, prophets, and Wild cats padding into the portals. The plan was working flawlessly.
"Any issues?" Avaro asked Renny as he slipped over next to her.
"Nope, no one tried stopping others yet," she replied, looking a lot less stressed with how smoothly things were working out.
"How much time do we have left?"
"I don't know, you'll know it's soon if the ground shakes though," she informed.
"That's good to know," Avaro nodded before sliding over to Lucerne. "Did Spike ever drop by? Or Blaze?" He asked him.
"Yeah, Spike got her mother through and Blaze showed up with Cinder and Torch. They went though too,"
Avaro felt relief flood through him. Blaze was safe.
"Alright good, thank you, keep up the good work!" Avaro encouraged before leaving. "You too!" Lucerne called back.
The dragon waved as he carefully weaseled his way through the cats.
Spike and Bob should still be looking for cats to evacuate, so Avaro decided to try searching for outsiders now.
Maybe even distract Zeru a bit when and if he spotted him.
Fuchsia and her family came to his mind, but he was still irritated with lat night. He'll let one of the other two deal with them.
Avaro slipped out into the forest, stretching a bit before continuing.
It was peaceful, nature buzzing normally, unaware of it's doom.
It was going to be gone soon. All gone.
Avaro stopped, feeling as if cold sharp claws just latched onto his heart.
Everything was going to be destoryed. Cease to exist.
That included Mystic.
She was buried here, she will never see the new home, she'll be left here.
Emotions started to spill as Avaro turned and made a detour, starting to tear up.
He was so caught up with all the recent events, he'd never visited her grave after the burial. This was Avaro's only chance. He'll never be able to go back once its gone.
Avaro stopped, looking at the tree in front of him. Mystic was buried here, at the roots of the tallest tree near the village. It still had some, now wilting, flowers laid around it.
He slowly stepped toward the grave and dropped to his knees, letting all the stress and grief return. He sobbed.
"I-I'm sorry for not visiting sooner, I got so distracted with r-recent events," he sputtered, wiping away the tears.
No response. He didn't expect one.
Just the thought that he'll never be able to visit Mystic again broke him down.
Avaro knew he couldn't dig her up, it'll be disrespectful. He'll just have to leave her here when the world collapsed.
Alone.
Avaro cried more, hugging himself with his wings. He felt awful for having forgot her so soon after her death, having only now to visit her.
Avaro stayed there for a long moment, letting his emotions finally run free.
He didn't know how long he stayed there, too long for sure. He wiped his eyes and took a few deep breaths, calming himself down.
"I should really get back to evacuating... I already wasted enough time," he thought as he got up, brushing himself off. Once ready, Avaro turned around to leave, getting a face full of fur.
"Ack-" he sputtered and quickly backed off, wiping his face. "Who the..." Avaro's sentence trailed away as he realized who was in front of him.
Zeru looked down at him, expressionless.
"Uh- sorry. I didn't see you there," Avaro apologized, trying to look as if he wasn't just crying. "How long have you beem standing there?"
"Not long," the alpha replied, saying no more.
Avaro awkwardly stood there, trying to figure out what to do next.
"So, had a good night..?" He tried.
"Your attempts at small talk are pitiful," Zeru replied, shutting Avaro up.
"Alright... I'm going back to the village," Avaro nervously chuckled before trying to walk around Zeru. A pink fluffy tail stopped him.
"Uh, problem?" Avaro asked as he stepped back.
"Yes, you're leaving so soon. Can't we talk a bit?" Zeru responded, filling Avaro with dread.
"No," he thought. "Sure," he said instead.
"Splendid, come with me. Mystic deserves her peace," Zeru meowed before padding away.
Avaro took one last glance at Mystic's grave, his heart aching, before walking off after the alpha.
Zeru didn't take them too far, stopping at a small area with a few berry bushes. But no berries have grown yet, nor flowers.
"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Avaro started, wanting to leave as soon as possible.
"I was just curious on what you have been up to recently, I've hardly seen you around," Zeru replied, sending chills down Avaro's spine.
"That sounds way to suspicious..."
"Uh, just around. Talking to cats, getting to know them," he said. "Did you know the ice elementals spend almost all their time in the river like water elementals?"
Zeru nodded, sitting down and curling his tail around his paws. "They are more active in the winter, too active if you ask me," he chuckled.
"Isn't it hot for them here? They are technically made for ice weather, right?"
"No, they're fine. You should see them during winter," Zeru continued, making Avaro frown.
"You shouldn't worry about the elementals, they're fine here. They love it here," the alpha said upon noticing the frown.
Something felt off to Avaro. Something was wrong. The way Zeru looked and spoke, it was strange.
"Do they? Really?" He asked.
"Yeah, if they didn't. They would've left,"
"Left."
Avaro shook his head, breaking free from the odd fog in his brain. "They are leaving!" He snapped. All the rage twords Zeru finally returning.
"What are you doing to them?! Brainwashing them? What did you do just now? To me?"
Zeru's face darkened in disappoinment. "That's a shame, I'd thought it worked," he sighed, alarm bells ringing in Avaro's head.
"What are you?" He hissed, backing away from the cat.
"It doesn't matter, you've already caused enough damage as is. You know how hard it was to get Blaze to listen to me?" Zeru huffed, getting to his paws. "She almost tried clawing my eyes out when I told her to stay with Cinder at night. No more sleeping with the two of you,"
"So that's why she never showed up last night, it was you!" Avaro cried, the pieces starting to click together. "You've been tricking these cats into thinking what you're doing is right! Haven't you? Using some kind of brain manipulation magic!"
"Wow, you're smarter than you look," Zeru admitted. "Listen, I don't use my magic often. Not as often as you might think. These cats do indeed like it here, they're not leaving,"
"They only follow your orders because they are used to it," Avaro hissed, ready to go half dragon if needed. "They are leaving, we're evacuating the village and you're not coming,"
"Oh? That's a shame, I guess you'll have to stay too," Zeru meowed with mocking sadness.
Avaro heard something behind him, but he couldn't act fast enough.
Some hard slammed against his head, knocking him unconscious.