~+Thorns And Asters+~

_-Chapter 3: Trapped With a Savage-_

Aster leaped out of the hammock, tackling the piglin girl into a tree. Pinning her to the wood, he unsheathed his claws and pressed them lightly against the skin of her neck. He could feel the intense number of breaths passing by the ends of his talons. The girl's eyes were covered from sight by a fringe down to her nose, and she looked about his age. "What have you done to me?!" Aster felt his eyes sting with salty tears as he yelled at the girl. She was shaking and her eyes were wide with terror, but she seemed more curious than scared. After a few short seconds, the girl replied, "Your wings were, and still are, injured, so I put a cast on them. You can't open your wings and fly away, or it'll damage them more." The girl had stopped shaking by then, and was staring directly into his eyes with daring inquisition. 

Aster felt himself start trembling as her words sunk in. Will he ever fly again? How will he get home? Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the blood on his cheekbones. Aster finally loosened his grip and let the girl go. As the girl collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, but otherwise unhurt, Aster shuffled backwards and leaned against a tree, sitting down and putting his knees against his chest. Finally, he got to observe what was around him. There was a hammock between two trees, which looked handmade, and moss covered the forest floor, littered with dark oak leaves from the trees that seemed to never stop stretching upwards. Then, there was the girl. She had one deep green eye. The other seemed blind, but the girl seemed not to struggle with only one eye. It was strange, and frightening, and the girl stepped towards Aster.

"-And that's how I found you." the girl finished. "My name's Thorn, by the way. What's yours?" She dabbed a wet cloth against Aster's cheek, gently wiping the blood off. He flinched away and said, " My name's Aster." Thorn rolled her eyes and grabbed his chin with one hand, pulling his head back to face her. "Stop moving, or you'll never be clean." She reached into her bag, pulling out a long roll of sticking plaster. Thorn cut it off at a good length, then pressed it against Aster's cheek until it stuck there. Aster noticed her breath was warm and sweet, and her tusks seemed less sharp than before. Thorn took one of Aster's hand in hers, moving it around in the light. "I think you're clean now. Try and get some sleep."

Aster's eyes snapped open. How long had he been asleep? By the look of the sun, a while, and it was nearly sunset. He was about to get up, but the piglin was asleep. Thorn, was it? She was still sleeping. ON HIS LAP AARGH. Aster leaped up, making Thorn lose her balance and wake up as she hit her head on the ground. Aster quickly stepped back into the shadows, hiding his face so she couldn't see him blushing immensely. "Aster..?" Thorn mumbled, blinking sleepily at him. He tensed up like a board, staring back at her. Aster ran. He could hear Thorn yell and then follow him, but he didn't stop. He finally reached a sandy clearing and turned around, still backing up. "Aster, wait. You can't go that way, trust me." Thorn said as she reached the clearing. Aster kept backing away. "Aster, WAIT-" hang on, the clearing was sandy? Suddenly, the ground disappeared and Aster fell, hitting water.

601 words.