Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 65: Doubts

-This one came out a little later than planned. I had a lot of stuff to worry about yesterday, so I forgot to release this chapter. My bad. Well, it's here now, so enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

Come out, come out, wherever you are...

We stalked the forest in search of our prey, which was frustratingly difficult to pin down. Its vile stench was everywhere, taking strange paths as if lost. Part of me wondered why it hadn't disappeared as Scoots typically did, but I wasn't complaining—not about that, anyway. Only its haphazard trail irritated me, making it difficult to understand where it went.

Despite my rising frustration, something about hunting down this Scoot that hurt my sister made me feel energetic... made me feel alive. A familiar sensation buzzed in my body, the same one that kept me alive after we escaped from the Dark Zone. Whatever it was, the 'Eternal Flame' or something else, it felt good. 

Still, I couldn't remain focused on the task at paw—not entirely. Nibbler kept distracting me. My ears perked every time I heard her move or breathe a little louder than normal. Sometimes, I'd even shift my nose to catch her scent if she got close enough, trying in vain to decipher her emotions by smell alone. I knew there were more important things right now, but my head seemed to disagree. My gut twisted into knots whenever I thought about it. I shook my head and focused on the hunt again. Why couldn't I get myself together? 

Unfortunately, that was not meant to be.

~Do you love anyone?~

I froze solid, wide eyes locked onto a plain root half-buried in the earth. Caught off-guard, it took me longer than necessary to process Nibbler's voice in my head. "Wh... What?"

Fallen leaves crinkled as her head moved into the left side of my vision, red eyes imploring. ~Do you love anyone?~

I blinked once, twice, three times. What was she getting at here? "I love my family," I answered slowly, carefully. 

~I meant the other kind of love.~

I swallowed, getting nervous. "W-Where did this come from?"

~Nox found me when I was waiting for you. It was weird. She asked me if I had ever loved someone before. I said I didn't know what it felt like. She said she didn't know either, then just... left.~

I relaxed a little, relieved that this wasn't what I feared, and resumed following the nasty scent trail. I hadn't known that Nox had met with Nibbler. It was strange that she didn't come looking for me, too, and even stranger that she asked a vague question and left. What was Nox doing?

~Do you know?~

"Not really," I answered awkwardly. "But Mom and Dad always told me it was a thing that felt nice and bad, scary and calming, heavy and freeing, and strong and weak."

Nibbler's face scrunched up in confusion. She walked by my side this time, which only made the odd feeling I got from her harder to ignore. ~Sounds hard.~

I shrugged helplessly. "I dunno... It's what they said." She didn't respond. Dreading another distracting silence, I acted on the first idea that came to mind. "I can help you figure it out."

Now, this silence was infinitely worse. It felt like the very air was crushing me into a tiny ball.

I peeked at the dragoness to my left, catching her wide red eyes full of tangled emotions. "Erm... I-I didn't mean it like that. Uh..." My face burned hotter. "It's only i-if you want it, of course... a-and not like that..." I trailed off before quickly breaking eye contact and holding my wings even closer to my body, doing everything in my power to pretend I hadn't said something so humiliating.