You'll Learn to Love Me

Chapter 85: Alive, and Mostly Well

Laylana knew she was dead. It hurt a lot as the explosion hit her body. Her shadows took the brunt of the initial explosion, which thankfully helped her body stay intact. But when the fire reached her after her shadows dissipated, she knew she wasn't going to live. Now her consciousness was trapped inside a charred crispy husk. What a fitting end considering her greatest fear was fire, and this was exactly how she almost died nearly a year ago exactly. When she didn't appear in the Underworld, ready to pass judgement, she started to panic. Was this a punishment for all the bad she had done? The cruel way she "killed" the Goddess of the Earth was surely enough to punish her for eternity. 

Then it was as if somebody put jumper cables on her brain and restarted her life. Laylana gasped and sat up. The first thing she felt was the wind in her face, then the searing pain in her right arm. She was still on Festus's back, still in the air. Her eyes started to work again, and she noticed the large hypodermic needle retracting from her forearm. The empty injector buzzed, whirred and retreated into a panel on Festus's neck.

"What the fuck?" Laylana questioned. "Was that...? What did Leo do?" 

Festus clicked and clattered in Morse code. Laylana took a few extra seconds, asking Festus to repeat, which he did. She got the gist of it. 

"That's... brilliant. He's such an idiot though." She breathed out a laugh. "Such a dumbass. A dumbass that saved my life." 

Festus creaked again. 

"No, no. He's super smart, I promise. But why wouldn't he tell me?" Laylana stretched her shoulder muscles. A grin spread across her face and she let out a maniacal laugh. "I FUCKING CHEATED DEATH TWICE NOW BITCHES! SUCK MY NON-EXISTENT DICK GAEA! YOU CAN'T TAKE ME DOWN!"

A metallic purr ran the length of the dragon's body as she continued to shout, scream, and curse. After she was done celebrating her second time cheating death, Laylana scanned the dragon for signs of damage. Festus's wings were working properly, though his left membrane was shot full of holes. His neck plating was partially fused, melted from the explosion, but the dragon didn't seem to be in danger of crashing immediately. Laylana could probably fix these problems, at least good enough to get them back home.

Laylana tried to remember what had happened. She was pretty sure she had defeated Gaea, but she had no idea how her friends and family were doing back home. Hopefully Jason and Piper had got clear of the blast. And hopefully she had pushed Leo off in time to save him as well. She had a weird memory of a missile hurtling towards her and screaming like a little girl... what the fuck had that been about?

Once she landed, she'd have to check Festus's underbelly. The most serious damage would probably be in that area, where the dragon had courageously grappled with Gaea while they blowtorched the sludge out of her. There was no telling how long Festus had been aloft. He'd need to set down soon.

Which raised the question: where were they? Below was a solid white blanket of clouds. The sun shone directly overhead in a brilliant blue sky. So it was about noon... but of which day? How long had Laylana been dead? She fiddled around, listening to Festus carefully as he guided her to the access panel in his neck. She saw a few things she hadn't seen before, including some sort of crystal. She ignored it momentarily. She noticed a compass and what looked to be a GPS system, and checked it. She groaned loudly. 

"Festus, good news!" she shouted with gritted teeth. "Our navigation readings are completely fucked up!"

Festus creaked again. 

"Yeah! Descend! Get us below these clouds and maybe –"

The dragon plummeted so fast that the breath was sucked out of her lungs. She gripped onto his scales tightly as they broke through the blanket of white and there, below them, was a single green island in a vast blue sea. Was that...? There's no way he would... 

They spiraled towards the island, the warm wind in Laylana's hair made her feel so free. Her clothes may have been in shambles, her armor long gone and probably having melted off her body and disappeared somewhere in the ocean. She continued to hold onto Festus tightly but that did not prove to be of any use. Festus spread his wings and landed with a stumble. Apparently one of his legs was broken. The dragon pitched sideways and catapulted Laylana face-first into the sand.