I flew through the dark and rainy night, trying to find somewhere to hide. There were people chasing after me. "All I did was take an apple!" I thought to myself. My wings started to feel heavy as the rain soaked them. I was slowly getting closer to the ground, my wings weighing me down, when I felt a sharp pain in my wing and before I knew it I was barreling towards the ground. I tried to scream, but I was cut short, already reaching the ground and hitting my head, making me pass out as fast as I had fallen. I woke up, my eyes blurry and my head throbbing. I was laying in the mud, so I tried to get up, but failed due to how dizzy I was. I fell right back into the mud. I layed there for a while, not wanting to get up, my whole body was sore. After a long time I regained my vision and sat up, wiping the mud off my face. I then remembered my wing and quickly looked back at it, noticing an arrow through the middle of it. I nearly screamed, tears threatening to fall. "Fuck… why…" I grabbed onto the arrow, closing my eyes tight and ripped the arrow out of my wing. I quickly dropped the arrow and covered my mouth so I wouldn't scream, tears slowly falling from my eyes. My breaths shaky and my head pounding, I reached into my small bag on my belt and grabbed out some bandages. While carefully wrapping them on my wing, I looked around to see if I could see anything useful. Nothing. Just trees and mud. "Again… fuck. Ugh…" I groaned and stood up, leaning on a nearby tree. Slowly stumbling from tree to tree as I tried to find a safe and dry place to rest. I eventually came across a boulder in the middle of a small clearing in direct sunlight. I carefully made my way over and sat on the boulder, letting the sunlight dry me off. While I was getting dried off I wiped the mud off my body as best as I could. I sat there, in the sunlight, the rays warming my body, my eyes closed, not paying attention, when I heard a branch crack. I opened my eyes and looked around quickly, snapping my head in every direction. Not seeing what made the noise, I stood up on the boulder and pulled out a small dagger to protect myself with. I barely had enough time to react when a tall man with white hair jumped out of the bushes and aimed what looked like a handgun at me. My ears went straight back and my fur fluffed up, I looked around looking for an exit, then opened my wing and bursted myself up, almost passing out due to the pain. I didn't stay in the air for long and ended up flying quickly towards the ground nearby. This time I had enough of a warning and aimed myself so I wouldn't get hurt too bad. I landed at an awkward angle and tripped. Falling hard onto the ground I quickly scrambled to get up and try to run away again, when I heard the man yelling, he was getting closer. I got up and ran as fast as I could, jumping over logs and swerving through trees. But I eventually came to a dead end, the only way to escape was jumping off the edge of the cliff. I held my dagger close, hearing the man slowly getting closer. I moved back closer to the edge, trying to stay as far away from the mysterious man as I could. The man came running out of the woods, stopping a good distance away from me. I looked back at the edge then at me and he must've known what I was thinking. "DON'T JUMP!" He yelled, making me stumble backwards and almost falling. Before I could fall the man ran forward and caught me. I flinched and quickly shut my eyes as he pulled me away from the edge. As soon as we were far enough away from the edge I pushed myself out of his arms and held out my dagger towards him. "Hey, woah. Are you really going to threaten the man who just saved your life?" He said. I thought about it for a moment before hesitantly nodding a bit. "Well, don't you think that's not very kind?" He asked, "Why don't we put down the dagger and talk this out, hm?" He reached forward and tried to gently move the dagger down. I shook my head quickly and backed up, my dagger still pointing at him, my body in a defensive stance. He sighs and I quickly look around, looking for a way to escape. It seems he noticed that, because he quickly came towards me, wrapped his arms around me, grabbed my dagger, threw it a bit away, and held me still. A sharp pain as if a flaming hot knife was stabbing me shot through my wing and I yelled out. He loosened his grip on me, "Are you okay? I'm sorry if I hurt you!" I tried to wiggle away, small tears falling from my eyes. "Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Calm down." He said in a calm and soothing tone. My ears were straight down and I wouldn't look at him, but I stopped wiggling so much. "See, it's okay. Now if you promise not to run away, I'll let go of you, okay?" He said. I hesitantly and very slowly did a small nod. He let go of me and I backed away from him a bit, wrapping my arms around myself. "Now, I didn't mean to frighten you back in that clearing. I thought you were a deer. But, then I saw you were hurt and I wanted to help you. Why did you run?" He asked. I sat down on the rocks and said nothing, my face full of worry and terror. "Why won't he leave me alone. I can't run, I'm too tired, and I can't fly because of my wing. What do I do?" I thought, thoughts began swirling in my head until I started getting a headache and I put my hands on my head, tears falling from my eyes. "Hey hey hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" He rushed over and knelt down next to me, reaching his hand out to touch me. I jolted back away from him before he could. He thought for a moment before speaking again. "It's okay if you don't want to talk, but at least let me help you." He reached his hand out towards me again. I looked terrified, wondering what I should do. I decided there was no way I could get out of this and placed my hand in his. He stood up and helped me up. "I'm going to take you to my place, okay? I'll make sure no one sees you, I promise." He said holding my hand gently. I nodded and slowly walked with him. After a while of walking I started getting really tired. My feet were dragging on the ground and I almost fell a lot. After a while of that the man let go of my hand and just scooped me up into his arms. My breathing started going all over the place and I started to panic. He seemed to notice and said "It's alright, you were having trouble walking so I'm going to carry you instead, we aren't far away anyways." I tried to calm myself down as we reached a huge castle-like building. He brought me inside, watching to make sure no one was around and brought me to a room. He set me down on a bed and told me to wait there while he goes and grabs some stuff. "Oh, also, before I forget," he hands me my dagger, "here is this back. Just don't point it at me this time, okay?" He says and leaves the room. I put my dagger back in my bag and I look around. It was a very nice room, with many book cases, and a desk that was cluttered with stuff. I brought my legs up and curled into a ball. "I want to leave…" I said to myself, resting my head on my knees. After a minute or two the man came back with a container and set the container on the bed next to me. He looked at me, "I'm going to touch your wing, okay? It may hurt for a bit but after it'll feel much better." I nodded a little bit, not looking at him. He gently took my wing and undid the terribly wrapped bandage I did. He gently opened my wing a bit and examined the place where the arrow shot through my wing. He opened the container and grabbed a bottle, pouring some of the stuff onto a cotton ball and put it on the injury. I jumped as it was excruciatingly painful. He gently sat me back down "I know it hurts, but I need to clean the wound so it doesn't get infected. You can squeeze my hand if you need to." He said, offering me his hand, I took it and held it, lightly at first until he put the cotton ball back on my injury. I squeezed his hand tightly until he took the cotton ball back off my wing. He let me breathe for a moment before I let go of his hand and he wrapped my wing back up with fresh bandages. "There, all better. It looks like just a small injury and it should heal soon, in the meantime you should stay here so I can watch after you." He said. I shook my head no in protest, but he didn't listen. "I know you don't trust me that much, but whoever gave you that wound may still be looking for you. It will be safer for you here." I just looked at the ground, too tired from the pain and stress to protest anymore. He noticed how tired I looked and patted on the bed, "You can sleep here if you'd like. I'll be sitting at my desk over there and I'll make sure no one comes in." He said, grabbing the container, setting it on his desk and sitting down. I slowly moved into the bed on the side farthest away from him and curled up under the blanket, tears falling from my eyes as I silently cried, my breath shaky. I buried my face into the blanket and cried until I eventually passed out from exhaustion. I woke up a while later from a nightmare and jolted straight up, small tears falling from my eyes. He saw me and quickly came over, sitting on the bed next to me. "Hey, what happened, did you have a nightmare?" He asked worriedly. I nodded, still crying. He reached out and patted my head, "Don't worry, nothing will hurt you here." As much as I wanted to pull away from his hand, I didn't. I was too tired and the soft patting tired me even more. I slowly laid back down, him still patting me, and slowly drifted off to sleep. When I woke up next it seemed to be late at night. The man was working at his desk. I watched him fiddle with the metal pieces, putting them together, taking them apart, and back again. "Cocobean." I said and he quickly looked at me, "What?" He said surprised. "...Cocobean …my name." I said, staring at my hands. He smiled slightly, "Nice to meet you Ccocobean. My name is Percival. But you may call me Percy." I nodded and wiped my eyes. My wing started to feel better so I shrank them away. He looked surprised and I turned and laid on my back. "Thank you… for helping me…" I said looking at the ceiling. "It's no problem. But uh, how did you do that whole wing shrinking thing?" He asked. "I'll show you tomorrow." I said, before yawning, turning away and going back to sleep. The last thing I heard before drifting off was him quietly mumbling my name once. The next morning I woke up and sat up, stretching out my arms. I shook and yawned, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. I looked around and jumped. "This isn't my house…" I thought to myself before all the memories rushed back in. "Oh…" I thought, turning my head towards my back and puffing out my wings. They felt a little better, but still not good enough to fly yet. I sighed, stood out of bed, and went towards the window. As I looked out I noticed many people sitting outside under a tree. Percival was sitting with them. I watched them for a while before turning around and looking for something to do. I climbed up on top of the large dresser in the room and looked around the room again, now at a higher angle. I took out my drawing pad and a pen from my bag and started to sketch out the layout of the room. After that I just drew random little drawings. A while later I heard someone coming towards the room, but it didn't sound like someone I knew. I jumped off my spot on the dresser and hid inside, keeping one of the doors just slightly open so I could see a little bit of the room outside. A slightly tall lady walked into the room and towards the desk. Grabbing something off the desk, she glanced in my direction, so I hid farther in the clothes that were hung up, trying to make sure she couldn't see me. She made her way towards the dresser I was hiding in, as she almost touched the handle I heard a voice calling out. She hesitated before turning away, walking out of the room, and shutting the door. I waited in the dresser for a long while before getting out to make sure she wasn't coming back. After about 4-6 minutes I slowly crept out of the dresser and looked at the desk, where the lady had grabbed something off of it. I walked over and inspected everything that was on the desk. It was mostly metal bits and bullets, but also a few letters or rolled up scrolls that were worn and had a few rips and tears. From what was moved around I came to the conclusion that the lady had taken one of the scrolls. "I wonder what's in them." I mumbled. I reached towards one of the scrolls, but before I could touch it I heard the familiar footsteps of a certain white haired guy. I quickly climbed back up onto my spot on the dresser and waited patiently for him to open the door. He opened the door, entered the room, then quietly shut the door behind him. He then made his way over to the bed and sat on the edge. "Hey, it's morning and I was wondering if you were hungry?" He said, not knowing that I wasn't there. I almost giggled, but contained myself. "Hey. Are you still sleeping?" He asked before moving the blanket to reveal an empty spot. He looked confused for a moment before looking around the room and spotting me on the dresser. I giggled a bit and waved at him. He sighed in relief and did a slight wave back. "How did you get up there?" He asked. "Climbed." I said confidently. "Huh, well, I guess you're feeling better then." He cleared his throat, "Well, as I said before, I was wondering if you were hungry." He said. I thought for a moment before nodding my head, my ears slightly wiggling, as they would do when I'm happy. "Alright, I'll go get you some food, it'll only take a minute or two." He said getting off the bed and standing up. I nodded again. He then walked towards the door, opened it, left the room and quietly shut it again. After a second I hopped down off the dresser I was perched on and went to go sit on the bed. While sitting on the bed, I wrapped my tail around me and started to pet it. I usually pet my wings, ears, or tail to sort of comfort myself or just when I'm bored. My ears wiggled more and more at the thought of food. My wings twitched in anticipation. After a bit Percival came back with a sandwich, some berries, and some water. He came over and handed it to me, then sat a little bit away from me on the bed. I instantly started to eat, hungry from not eating anything the day before. While eating I noticed Percival looking at me as if he was studying me and my every movement. I didn't like him staring at me so I spread my wing to the side of me so he couldn't see me and continued eating. I swallowed my last bit of food and took a big gulp of the water. A second later I felt something touch my wing, so I moved it back to see Percival's hand reached out towards me. I huffed, "You should ask before touching someone you just met." I said and looked away, a bit flustered. "Ah- uhm- sorry-" He said, putting his hand on his neck nervously. I sighed and stretched out my wing again, "You can't touch, but just this once… okay." I said not looking at him. I heard him mumble in agreement and slowly put his hand on my wing, feeling the feathers. He, again, seemed to be studying them, from the top to the bottom of the feathers. After a while I felt him stop touching them, so I put my wing back and shrunk them away. To which Percival starred in a sort of amazement and wonder. I cleared my throat, starting to feel nervous because of the staring. "Oh uh, yeah, so- it's really interesting how you can do that with your wings. Can you shrink your ears and tail too?" He asked. "No, just my wings." I said, holding my tail and petting it. "How interesting…" He said, thinking for a moment, "but not in a bad way, y'know. I think it's a cool kind of interesting!" He said, smiling a tiny bit. I blushed a little bit at the compliment and looked away. "Thanks..." He nodded, "Well, seeing as you're going to be staying here for a while I should go find you some clothes to change into. I bet it's not comfortable wearing those clothes considering that they are dirty." He said. I nodded, "That would be nice... thank you." He nodded, "I'll go look for some then." He got up, left the room, and gently shut the door. While he was gone I just sat around and drew in my sketch book. I drew random people and plants. Mostly flowers, mushrooms, and succulents. After a while of waiting I plopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking, creating random scenarios in my head. "Ugh, what's taking him so long???" I said quietly, sitting up, my ears flicking. A little while later I hear footsteps getting close to the room. I stare at the door, waiting for him to enter. The door opens and Percival walks inside, holding a bunch of clothes, shutting the door behind him. "So, I had to tell one of my friends that you are here-" I scowl, "But! She promised not to tell anyone else, plus she gave me all these clothes for you!" He says, worriedly. I sigh and thank him. He nods and hands me the jumbled mess of clothes. I take them and look through them. "So, I'll be waiting outside, let me know when you get done changing." He says kindly and leaves the room. I pick out a short sleeve shirt and a pair of shorts along with a long coat-jacket, thingy. I quickly change, shaking off all the dried mud off my body. After I finish changing I go over to the door and quietly knock twice, so he'd know I was done, then I went back and sat down on the bed. He walks in and thinks for a moment before reaching over to a shelf, grabbing a brush, and handing it to me. I take the brush and start to brush out my hair, picking out any branches or leaf pieces I feel. After a bit I try and untangle a piece of a tiny brach from the back of my hair, I sigh angrily and continue trying. Percy came over and sat beside me. "Do you need some help?" He asked. I nodded angrily and huffed, handing him the brush, while turning my back towards him. He gently removes the branch piece from hair and starts to brush my hair. My ears wiggle a bit and I start to feel sleepy as he brushed my hair. I feel at peace for the first time in a while, even though I barely know him, I feel... safe? He finishes brushing my hair and sets the brush down on the bedside table. "So, we are going to have to tall about sleeping arrangements." He says, "Would you prefer to sleep in my bed and I can get a sleeping bag or something?" He asks. I shake my head, "It's fine if you sleep in the bed too, I don't mind if you do, I also don't take up much space." I said calmly. His face became very slightly pink, "Are you sure? I can sleep on the floor or something-" He said hurriedly.
