𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐓𝐇 》 LEO VALDEZ ¹

―eighteen. two pudgy men in a room: one's half goat, the other's in a bathrobe

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𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀
𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄
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OUCH. Was one of Charlie's first words after storming past lasers that carried the heat of the explosion, and then it was followed by a string of curse words when she tried to sit up, both hands wrapping around her abdomen. She was lucky for that reaction, however, as the pain meant she could still feel her limbs, her hands were numb and when she tried to wiggle her toes, she wasn't sure if they did or not.

She wasn't exactly crying, but her cheeks were stained with tears and her breath rattled in her lungs every time she tried to breathe.

Piper was in front of her then, hands darting in all sorts of directions as she tried to figure out what part to rest her hands on. Eventually, she settled for Charlie's face, cradling her cheeks as her own tears fell.

''Where—''

''Shh, lay still.'' Piper's chest was shaking too. ''You rolled pretty hard when—when Festus—''

''Where's?''

Piper moved one hand to her forehead, taking her temperature. ''You must've hit your head pretty hard. Maybe you have a concussion — this all must be really confusing for you.''

''Piper, Piper, I'm fine, seriously,'' Charlie said, but when she wafted Piper off her and tried to sit up, she only made it around halfway before she let out a scream of pain, head slamming back into the dirt as she gasped, suddenly feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her.

Piper's eyes were wide. ''Shit, shit, Charlie, what—''

Now Charlie was crying. Fresh tears streaming down her face as her head reached backwards, trying to relieve herself of the pain.

Jason appeared at the corner of her eye, but he was blurred from her perspective, Leo had a hand draped around his shoulders and Raccoon Leo on his head. Piper's head snapped towards the two, ''I told you not to move him! He could—''

''He heard Charlie.''

Leo removed his hand from around Jason's waist, using his friend's body as a wall as if he was in a very cliché romantic film and his heart had just been broken. He reached the floor, releasing Jason's legs as he moved forwards, cradling an arm to his chest. Raccoon Leo did more or less the same thing, moving down Jason's body in a spiral until he scurried over and stopped near Charlie's face, taking up more of her vision as he lent over her.

''Oh, hey Leo,'' Charlie grinned, revealing her teeth. Unfortunately, that made the situation worse as blood was revealed, dripping down her teeth and changing their colour.

''H-Hey, Charlie,'' Leo said, smiling back as he tried not to wince at the mere sight of her. She figured now was not the time to tell him she was talking to the raccoon.

''I take it we lived, then?'' He nodded at her. ''Embarrassing, man. I told you were cool, only for us to live? What a joke.'' Even though it pained her to say every word, it was worth it when Leo laughed. ''How's Festus?'' Charlie asked and Leo looked sad then. He looked over his shoulder.

When he had first seen the wreckage, he was beyond any emotion that could be labelled. Festus must've dropped the big canary cages as he came over the fence, because they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly undamaged.

Festus hadn't been so lucky.

The dragon had disintegrated. His limbs were scattered across the lawn. His tail hung on the fence. The main section of his body had plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet long across the mansion's garden before breaking apart. What remained of his hide was a charred, smoking pile of scraps. Only his head and neck had been somewhat in tact, and Leo was just thankful his father had taken it. He'd never ask for anything else ever again.