Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 48: Death's Advance

-Here we go with some real plot mixed in with some more character development. A particular perspective will be intentionally left out in this chapter for reasons I won't reveal just yet!

Anywho, enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

"I have a question."

Nibbler didn't move from her curled-up position in the cold sand, but her ruby red eyes turned to look at me with a soft grunt.

"Since we might die again, I was wondering if you'd tell me more about... well, you?" Her ear flicked in irritation, making me grimace. "Sorry. It's kind of hard to keep a good mood with that held over my head." It didn't help that my parents were entirely unaware that we had left at all. That left me with constant guilt on my wings since the minute we departed. We only left after Star pleaded with us to follow through with her stupid plan, which required secrecy for some reason.

Nibbler sighed through her nose, disturbing granules of sand. She didn't need to communicate to make her response clear.

"I'll stop talking about that," I promised quietly. In hindsight, it was stupid of me to casually talk about dying a second time; that was always a surefire way to kill the mood. "Could you tell me why you were on that island? You know, the one we found you on?" For whatever reason, I wanted to learn more about Nibbler, even though I already knew a lot about her. I chalked it up to curiosity.

Nibbler growled deep in her throat and spoke through our link. ~I chased the monsters there. I want to avenge my parents.~

I whined sympathetically. I'd probably want that, too. "How do you know which ones to kill?"

Her gaze hardened. ~I don't.~

"Oh." Basically, she attempted to kill any Scoot she found. Now, though, she actually had the ability to kill those creatures. I wasn't sure if that was good for her pursuit of revenge or bad for her general health, which worried me. "Just stay with me... okay?" I warbled pleadingly. "I don't want to risk losing you to revenge, even if the Scoots deserve it."

Nibbler finally lifted her head and seemed to search my face for something, her cold anger replaced by something that I couldn't identify. Whatever it was, it had her attention. Her face inched closer, and she narrowed her eyes as if looking at something difficult to see, then she blinked and backed off a little, appearing surprised. ~I... won't leave you.~ Her mental voice was soft and thoughtful. ~No matter what.~

I tilted my head. Something felt off. "What's wrong?" 

She shook her head and bumped our noses with a smile, giving me an odd look before laying her head back down with a quiet hum, her curious eyes still trained on me. 'Nothing... I'm okay... Next question?'

I knew her well enough to tell that it wasn't 'nothing,' but I doubted it was important enough to make an argument worth it. "What do you want to do when you're all grown up?" She blinked at me. "I-I mean, I know we're adults now, but..." I averted my eyes, embarrassed by my slip-up. "...never mind."

A gentle nudge made me tentatively look at Nibbler again. Her head was leveled with mine, allowing her to be face-to-face with me and hold eye contact. She nodded once in encouragement, not a trace of judgment in her features.

I looked down at the sand. Although it wasn't my fault, I still felt ashamed of it. There was a reason I never outright explained why I was this way. "Something is broken in my head," I confessed quietly. "I feel like I'm just a little kid most of the time, even though I'm not. Like... my growth is stunted or something. I'm immature in the head... most of the time." Mom never told me why I had that problem, let alone what it actually was, but I knew something was wrong. No one else had that problem, that disability.