Firefly

Chapter Twenty Three

::Chapter Twenty Three::

Firefly awoke to wide, chocolate coloured eyes.

"AHH!" Firefly cried, leaping out of her hammock and crumbling to keep upright in the air.

Morning Glory laughed, grabbing Firefly's hand to steady herself midair.

Firefly let out an indignant huff. "I REALLY should have brought a lantern so that I could light your hair on fire when you did this!"

Morning Glory giggled. "A well. I had to wake you up, I had a question!"

Firefly raised an eyebrow. "And how is that different from the normal?"

Morning Glory paused. "I was wondering if you wanted a tour of my forest, and a smooth recovery with my moms? That would give you a place to stay and a meal before we went to your home!"

Firefly really really did not want to do that. In fact, she would rather burn the entire earth than have to speak to them again. Firefly's mind lurched- what if Gwen was still there? She really wanted nothing to do with humans. ESPECIALLY THAT HUMAN.

Unfortunately, Morning Glory had a good point. Also she was entirely starving.

"Fine," She said bitterly. "But only because I'm still tired and very hungry!"

Morning Glory beamed, whirling and diving through the trees back toward where they had entered the Earthbound Kingdom.

As Firefly followed, she was smacked in the face by vines an absurd amount of times. Yet throughout Morning Glory's chattering, Firefly couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched. Honestly, she wished she could nab the feeling and bite it so hard that it died.

Firefly shuddered, and whisked back through the portal to the real world.

***

Firefly and Morning Glory stood at the front door of Xylem and Poppy's house. Morning Glory had spent the entire flight there talking about what kind of people her parents are.

They're both guards of the royal palace. Poppy likes cooking and is very two-faced at times. Xylem is a general and diplomacy master.

Despite remembering these snippets, Firefly spent most of the trip wondering where Canary had gone.

Once the house was in view, Firefly realized that this would not go well. She had a pretty terrible first impression, you know, leaping out of the window the moment she was worried about being caught. I mean, maybe a lot of people did that the moment they were confronted with anything that worried them.

Firefly and Morning Glory landed beside the cabin. The sleek, carved wood stood evenly, vines wrapped around each pillar and moss laying over the roofs shingles.

"We're here!" Morning Glory squealed, delighted. Her wings fluttered excitedly as her feet touched ground. Firefly blinked, landing beside her. Her tail coiled behind her, nervous. Her gaze landed against Morning Glory's. To Firefly's surprise, there was a flare of anxiety beneath her excitement.

Firefly folded back her wings. She really did not want to walk into whatever was about to happen.

Despite this, Firefly said nothing.

"C'mon!" Morning Glory chirped, gripping Firefly's hand and strolling up to the front door beside the patio. "We can tell my moms all about everything that happened! Ooh, can I tell them you're a Skyshine Angel? Why not, right? Others know. Though, they are guards, so they might tell the rest of the kingdom that the Skyshine Angels are alive. But if they don't, can I take them with me to the Skyshine Kingdom? That would be awesome! They might worry about me a lot though. I am only fifteen. Hey, I never asked how old you were! How old are you?"

Her bubbly voice flowed as she bounced up to the door, placing her other hand on her hip to pause, waiting for a response.

Firefly shook out her wings, lifting her loose hand to push her hair off her face. "I'm sixteen and seven months," She answered, stopping beside Morning Glory just before she hit her head on the doorframe.

"Oh cool. My birthday is actually soon, I think! I guess we're about a year apart. Well, let's go!" Morning Glory said, her voice cheerful.

But the moment her hand even brushed the door handle, the front door swung open in front of them.

Both Morning Glory and Firefly leapt back in alarm, Morning Glory released her wrist with a shriek of shock.

The Angel behind the door yelped and jumped back too, flaring her green wings near her pointed ears.

Firefly took a moment to process the alarm, and in the midst of Morning Glory leaping back into Firefly and the other angel leaping into the door frame and hitting her head, Firefly realized it was actually Morning Glory's mother, Xylem.

She grabbed Morning Glory's wing to stop her from toppling over from jumping out of the way from the door, and blinked at the green-haired Earthbound Angel in front of them.

"What by the leaves-" Xylem muttered, rubbing her head where she hit it against the doorframe. "Wh-Morning Glory?"

"Oh- mom! Great flying birds, you scared me!" Morning Glory breathed, shaking off a loose feather from her wing.

"I wasn't expecting you to be on the porch! We were just about to go to the Earthbound Kingdom to simultaneously look for you and... you know. Do our jobs as both royal guards and parents."

Firefly paused awkwardly behind Morning Glory as they exchanged recent news.

"Where were you? You went after your strange friend after the open house saying you wouldn't be home for a while. We didn't know where you went, so you can't blame us for worrying," Xylem said, tilting her head. Firefly came to the conclusion she didn't even notice her behind Morning Glory.

"Of course not! I'd worry too, haha! Though, we saw Lily and Goldenrod while we were there, actually! They were on duty, we were just going through the palace."

Xylem blinked. "We? So you found Firefly?" Her head lifted and she finally spotted Firefly, who was standing by the side of the house behind Morning Glory.

Firefly immediately felt uncomfortable. She had literally leapt out of a window the moment she was confronted with things she feared. After a couple straight seconds of Firefly being uncomfortable, Firefly realized she didn't actually care. She might have done something horribly embarrassing (that she would probably just do again, seeing that it seems like a fairly common occurrence in her life to jump out a window), but at least she got to see more of the forest, which was entirely the only reason she was even here.

Firefly lifted her chin, tail lashing slowly in indignance. She didn't have to feel even a little bit nervous around these people.

Then she remembered these were Morning Glory's parents. They could entirely decide whether Firefly was a good person and entirely stop Morning Glory from ever seeing her again if Firefly wasn't a good person.

The train the thought flickered over her mind to an old friend– one who she actually got along with in the Skyshine Kingdom. Falcon. He was a good friend, a servant's apprentice in the palace when she was eight. They both thought the hierarchy was absurd and stupid and everyone should be way more lenient with the idiotic rules. However, Firefly's parents thought he was the reason she was so grumpy with being the heir, since she grew more rebellious around that time. They ended up firing him and the rest of his family. Firefly never saw Falcon again, which was pretty disappointing seeing he was her first childhood friend.

However, this horrid memory reinforced her anxiety of this confrontation.

Mid train of fearful thoughts, Firefly realized she was standing in awkward silence without saying anything, most likely making ridiculous faces.

"Um- Hello," Firefly said, narrowing her eyes at Xylem.

Xylem paused. "Come on in, guys, we'll chat. Poppy's just sharpening her spear," She said casually, opening the door wider to allow them inside.

Firefly shook out her wings uncomfortably, glad the initial introductions were entirely over.

Morning Glory nudged Firefly excitedly and slipped inside after Xylem. Firefly followed, prepared to leap out of a window.