Xelqua Rising || The Lost One AU

35.Baby Steps

Xelqua stood in front of Miesall, his wings reaching out to him. He could now move his wings with little difficulty, thanks to all the therapy given to him. He moved them back and forth, just as Miesall instructed him to.

"Very well," Miesall nodded to himself. "I believe that you are ready."

Xel grew stiff, the color draining from his face. He gave a nervous chuckle, having a bad feeling that he knew what the Watcher was about to suggest. "Whatever do you mean?" He asked innocently.

Miesall turned to the door and walked out, expecting the other to follow. Xel did, stumbling just a bit. He felt the ground underneath of his shoes, nice and solid, strong enough to support him. He loved the ground. He had never appreciated it more in his entire life. He'd kiss it if that was what he had to do to keep it. He would lick it, even. He'd do anything for it. He loved it more than anything. "Miesalt... you don't-- we aren't going to do it, are we?"

Miesall suddenly stopped, causing the shorter male to run into him. "I dearly hope you are referring to flying and not friendship."

"I.. what?" Xelqua asked. Then it clicked, his face immediately flushing. "No, no! I meant the flying! I don't want to fly!"

Miesall only sighed before beginning to walk again, the former human soon following. "You should be more careful with your words. We are never alone, Xel." He shifted some of his eyes throughout the various rooms in the temple, a quiet nervous feeling making itself known in his stumach. He found a few Watchers immediately direct their bodies towards his eyes, just like they had done the first time the naïve student used that word to describe him: friend. Their actions didn't technically mean anything, but there was something in him that told him otherwise. He chose to ignore it once more.

Xel was oblivious as always. "Well, you know what I meant." He let out a nervous chuckle. Miesall did not respond. The silence felt awkward in light of his blunder, so he decided to speak again. "I don't think I'm ready to fly, Miesalt!"

As they approached the doors leading out into the garden, the snowy-haired Watcher used his magic to open them. "You have to learn sometime. In truth, I believed that you were ready a few sessions ago already."

The blonde swallowed as he walked outside among the flowers. "But... but what if I fall? What if I get hurt?"

"Then I will be sure to catch you." Miesall gave a reassuring smile, though he did not turn around to point it towards the other. "I am the undisputed best flyer of all the Watchers, both in terms of speed and accuracy. You have nothing to worry about."

Xelqua had suspected as such. He was sure that Miesall could travel from the end of the west wing all the way to the end of the east wing in under a minute if he tried. He was also always doing crazy maneuvers, turning on a dime and looking like he nearly breaks his legs with each landing, yet executing them perfectly. He forced a smile, feeling just slightly better.

The two reached the edge of the garden, where the ground gave way to nothingness. He had never gotten this close to the edge before. He made his eyes search through the rest of the Downside Up, which was something he didn't do very often. As a human, he hadn't even noticed it since he was so focused on the flowers. (Yet another example of him being a stupid boy.) It was largely empty with exception of the island the temple was on. There were purple swirls of fog in the distance, far from the temple, that obscured the rest of the Downside Up some. There were a few floating rocks moving about, but that was pretty much all. 

Miesall jumped off the edge, skillfully fluttering his wings so that he only fell an inch, he turned mid air and flew back a bit. He stared at Xelqua silently; expectantly.