~𝑪𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒔~ •𝓐 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓡𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮•

~Chapter 5~

Verity

×Trigger Warnings include: Harsh language, injury.×

   I awoke the next morning, my eyes fluttering open to see darkness. I was also… upside down? I felt Dion's arms around me, recognizing the feeling from the day before. It occurred to me that I was beginning to get used to him. I never thought that would happen, seeing as we had just met and he had kidnapped me.
   His wings were wrapped around me snuggly as he held me in his arms. I felt a bit light headed from being upside down, so I hoped he would wake up soon. I looked up sleepily to see him asleep, perhaps? I couldn't tell since he was still wearing his mask. But from his slow and calm breathing, I could tell he was still asleep. So cute~. I noticed him shifting a little and realized he was waking up.
“What am I? A baby?” I chuckled, but still a little shy from how I was being held.
   Dion cleared his throat.
“Well, Fox Bats do carry their babies while sleeping, so…” He brushed a few strands of hair behind my ear before pulling away flusteredly and fidgeting with his mask. For a moment I wished he would just lift it and let me see his face. It was dark being wrapped up in his wings, the light wouldn't hurt his eyes, we were so close together, it was the perfect moment, but I knew he wouldn't show me. Perhaps I would never see his face, perhaps I would never see him again after we were finished with our journey. That thought dreaded me a little…

~~~

   Breakfast went smoothly, prepared by Roman and thankfully not consisting of that poor doe… I wouldn't have eaten the venison anyway…
   Well, it was going smoothly, until footsteps were heard in the distance, along with the clanking of hard material. Dion, who was next to me, sat up straighter and went silent while looking in the direction of the noise. Roman did the same, growling deep in his throat like a threatened guard dog.
   I looked towards the noise as well, thinking about flying over to the approaching people. This was definitely not good for us, especially with Roman and Dion being mercenaries of a sort…
“I'm gonna go look.” I stood up, beginning to step around the surrounding brush before Dion grabbed my wrist, to which I pulled away.
“No you're not. Those are soldiers. We're leaving.” He spoke with an authoritative voice, but I could tell he was more than concerned.
“We're abandoning camp?” I sighed in disappointment, picking up the fur blanket, which I declared as mine now that I had been using it for a few days. It was mostly my only source of comfort during our days in the wilderness.
“We have to. Unless you want to go back to your little military base?” He crossed his arms, standing up and putting out the fire by knocking over a pale of water with his foot. I watched the water sizzle out in thought, smoke rising up and stinging my eyes a little. I could see Roman watching my reaction out of the corner of my eye. I didn't know what to say though. I didn't want to go back to the military base and I would much rather travel with them, even on foot. But going with Roman and Dion would be more dangerous, and who knows what it would lead to in the end… And going with the soldiers would be safer, but I truthfully did not want to go back to the base.
   I didn't really have time to decide my whole future, since Dion had already swept me up in his arms and flown into the air. How rude. At least I had my blanket though.
   Roman was on the ground in wolf form, fighting off soldiers to keep them from following us. It seemed pretty easy for him, so I didn't worry too much. I looked up at Dion, glaring at him a little. But I was slightly relieved that I didn't have to make a choice whether to spend my life in complete boredom, or something else. I didn't exactly know why they had kidnapped me, which was what scared me. But I was slowly working to get details.
   Staring at Dion and listening to his wings calmed me down. The sound of his flapping wings hitting the cold air made me relax. But he seemed to be flying strangely, like he was distracted or worried, perhaps even hurting. Him being bothered was bothering me.
   It was very chilly being so high in the air though, so I pulled the blanket over my face. Now my feet were cold, but I would rather have frostbite on my feet than face. It would give me an excuse not to walk the rest of the way on our journey…
   After a short period of flying, we landed in a secluded meadow surrounded by lilac bushes and olive trees. I did not understand the layout of this whole forest journey. Every mile we traveled, the scenery seemed to get more magical and ethereal. That was an upside to traveling, but I still wanted it all to end.
   Dion let me down and quickly folded his wings, pulling his cloak over them to keep warm. It was cold in the new meadow, despite there being plentiful food in the area. Again, I did not understand this magical phenomenon.
   I didn't realize it until then, but I was shaking, not from the cold. I had seen everything that happened with the soldiers and Roman, it made me worried. I didn't want to go back to the military base now that I thought about it. I was wasting my life away there. So, I made my decision, I would continue with Roman and Dion on our journey. Though did I really have a choice anymore?
   Sitting down on the ground, I tried to catch my breath. I wrapped my blanket tightly around myself while Dion stood close by, peering out at the area. We were waiting for Roman. Time went by and I was getting worried, but thankfully I soon heard the relieving sound of his paws scampering towards us.
   Roman looked exhausted, limping a bit from an injured front paw, but seemed thankful nonetheless.
“Oh good, I thought you had died.” I nudged him with my shoulder as he shifted back to human form.
“Nearly did. But too bad, you're still stuck with me.” He nudged me back, then took a sip of water from a bottle, offering me some after. I wasn't one to share drinks with someone, but I was dying of thirst, so I accepted.
“Alright. We should keep moving, they might still be on our tail…” Dion announced, slipping out a dagger from a pouch and keeping it close just in case.
   With that, we kept heading towards Helleve, or whatever that place was called… I had never been there before or heard of it. I hadn't heard of their boss either. I didn't really know what was going on. I was working towards confronting them about it though.
   During the walk, I kept looking down at the ring Dion had gifted me. Strange. It was on my ring finger now, not my pointer finger where I had placed it. It fit perfectly on my ring finger though, so I decided to keep it there.
   I had shown Roman the ring and we were both fascinated. Especially because Dion had somehow mustered the courage to give it to me personally. It was still shocking to me.
   Later during the journey, I didn't know how long it had been, but I was exhausted and tired. We had stopped a few times for rest along the way, but all the exhaustion built right back up. Multiple times I had even crawled onto Roman's back when he was in wolf form, forcing him to carry me for a few minutes. But he would eventually get tired and buck me off to the ground. So I was stuck with walking.
   Finally, we made it to a little stream and stopped for a break and water.
“How long has it been? 9 miles?” I asked, plopping down by the side of the stream to take my heels off for the millionth time. I very much regretted having to wear them and walk over muddy or rocky terrain. So I decided, once again, to just carry them the rest of the way.
“About, yeah. Drink some water, we have another 7 to do and we need to make our goal before sunset.” Dion handed me some water, speaking blankly and unfazed. He was obviously tired, but something, I didn't know what, was making him agitated.
   I drank some water and then groaned, exhausted and tired, practically shaking from my body’s need for rest. Roman drank water from the stream and then sat next to me.
“7? I think I'll die first. Can't we just fly instead?” I laid down on the mossy ground.
“No. I can't fly right now and you can't go by yourself.” His words were laced with ice, practically making me shiver from the feeling of almost annoyance in his words. Was I being irritating? Was he irritated by me? I wouldn't be surprised if he was. I supposed I was being annoying by complaining every once in a while.
“You can't fly right now?” I tried to make my voice as caring and considerate as possible. After all, I didn't want to irritate him more.
   Then, Dion spread his left wing to reveal three arrows lodged in the webbing of his wing. He seemed unfazed by it, but he glared at the injury as if disgusted more by the arrows than the actual webbing that tore.
   I sat up, immediately going over to him in concern. It looked like it hurt badly, despite him not expressing it for some reason. Did he think it was weak to express his pain? Or was he really not in pain? I didn't care, I just wanted to help him get the arrows out if it meant he would stop feeling agitated.
“Here, we need to get those out of there.” I then approached him with caring intent, but he stepped back, moving his wing behind him. Why was he being so cold?
“It’s fine. Let's keep moving.” Then he folded his wings, fidgeting to get the injured one in place, then pulled his cloak back on and started walking again. I looked down at Roman who looked back at me, still in wolf form. We both seemed to be thinking the same thing. What was up with Dion?
   We kept walking though, following Dion's lead while the same thing ran through our heads. I knew Roman was practically Dion's best friend, so it didn't surprise me to know Roman was worried about the same thing I was worried about.
   Roman shifted to human form and walked alongside me, but we were both still worried about Dion, so we didn't speak. Roman kept glancing down at me, giving me a look which I returned. He brushed his tail along my back, possibly trying to communicate or perhaps asking for comfort. He often did that, even when in full mercenary demeanor.
   I moved over a bit, reaching up then gently patting his back and then tail. It was so fluffy~, and also one of my favorite things about him. But the two of them were so damn tall! It led me to struggle a bit to look them in the eyes, but I could still feel their gazes. Even when Dion was wearing his mask, I could still feel it.
   I could feel Roman relax when he felt me stroking his tail. His shoulders de-tensed and he almost lost his footing while walking, making me laugh a little.
“Hey, Dion. We're gonna go ahead to the meadow. We'll meet you there.” Roman spoke confidently, but slightly unsure. He still seemed worried about his friend and I didn't blame him.
   Dion huffed and stepped to the side to let us pass. He seemed like he was trying not to care, but it was obvious he did.
   So, me and Roman continued on ahead of Dion. It gave us some time to discuss.
“Well, he's…” I started, looking down to the side.
“Yeah… I don't know what's wrong though. He's been like this before and I've always known the reason, but now…”    Roman sighed, looking down at me, then reaching down and picking me up by the waist like a cat. It startled me as he held me up to his face.
“Do you guys just casually pick people up?” I chuckled, looking him in the eyes.
“Humans are cute~. So tiny and aggressive~.” He retorted and teased.
“I thought I was a goddess.” I smirked.
“Why not both? Human and goddess.”
“I'm not even human. I'm a fire nymph thingy.” I chuckled again.
“Still small, and cute, and aggressive~. Not many differences to a human, besides the powers.” He nodded his head at me, then held me in his arms and began walking towards this supposed meadow.
“I can walk, you know.” I rolled my eyes.
“You literally rode half the way here on my back. Don't complain, I'm doing you a favor. Plus, I don't want to wait for your slow ass to catch up.” He glared down at me playfully. He wasn't wrong though…
   We made it to the meadow where Dion later joined. He still wasn't happy at all. It seemed his mood had only gotten worse. I figured it was because of the arrows lodged in his wing. Poor guy…
   Me and Roman tried to speak to Dion and make him feel better, but he kept ignoring us or walking away. It was honestly frustrating and I was beginning to get fed up with it. So me and Roman decided to give him some space instead.
   At dawn, we were all silently laying in the meadow to get some sleep. I was laying next to Roman, his paw regularly scraping against my back and his ears twitching at the slightest sound of an animal or the wind. He was fully aware, even when asleep. I, however, couldn't close my eyes for a minute. There was a certain frog by the stream that seemed to not want to shut up. Plus, the grass beneath my blanket was not very good cushioning with the rocks and all…
   I sat up, looking around the area and seeing Dion a few feet away from me and Roman. He was laying on his side, his injured wing spread out for some relief. It was honestly a magnificent sight to see. I felt bad for ignoring him, especially after he had given me all those gifts. I looked down at the ring he had gifted me, it was still on my ring finger. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the two scorpions, placing them in my hair on each side of my head. Then I sighed and laid back down, closing my eyes and trying to fall asleep since the frog had finally stopped croaking.
“You. Come here.” Dion suddenly spoke confidently, not too loud to wake up Roman though. Wanting to at least try to cure his bad mood by being obedient, I complied, getting up and walking over to him. I was nervous, but now stood in front of him, looking at his mask and injured wing. But not for long, because he quickly grabbed me, pulled my body against his chest, and wrapped his arms around me tightly. It startled me quite a bit and I thought about darting away, but when I heard his sad little bat chirps, that thought disappeared. I was stunned, not able to move and not knowing what to do. This was the first time he had done something like this to me… But it made me realize, he probably didn't get affection all that often. He worked for some crime guy and I doubted he saw his family often if he had any. What made it more sad was that his species was supposed to live in colonies. But he had no one except for Roman… He was majorly touch starved.
“Poor thing~.” I whispered softly, letting him hug me. I was relaxing for the most part… until I heard some shuffling and felt him take off his mask. My heart rate increased ten fold and my eyes were wide. He only made it worse by burying his unmasked face in my neck! I felt his fluffy hair, maybe curly, against my jawline. And I felt something cold against my collarbone. I wondered what it could be before realizing… It was an earring! His ears were pierced! Well, at least one of them was. But still, that was attractive as hell…
“Huh. I really am your baby.” I giggled and I felt his heart rate increase. It made me so flustered and giddy to know that I could see his face if I just moved a bit, but he had his hood on, so I couldn't see anything. I didn't want to move and try to look either, in fear of losing trust.
   We stayed like that through the night, him drifting off only minutes after settling in. A while later, it began snowing lightly and it made me worried that I would catch another cold after barely recovering. Dion wrapped his uninjured wing around me though, keeping us both secure and warm enough for the night.