Ravenwings (Imaged + Completed) [1st in Trilogy]

Part II: Chapter 19

He still has the pepper spray?! I gulped. It was exactly what we needed, but Raven was too preoccupied to fight back.

He's been carrying it all this time? He brought it on all his flights outside, as if he had been afraid of something like that.

He threw me the pepper spray, and I tried to catch it, but it clumsily slipped to the grass, and I quickly picked it back up with trembling hands.

I was completely sobbing by then — I had never been in a terrifying life-threatening situation like this — but I quickly popped the top, ran to Raven, and sprayed it everywhere over the three dogs, and...unfortunately Raven as well.

The dogs whimpered and recoiled, their muzzle to the ground, wiping their paws over it as they yelped in pain like they thought they could wipe it off.

Raven screamed again as the pepper spray stung his open wounds.

Oh no... "I'm sorry!" I exclaimed, my voice cracking.

I ran past Raven for a moment as I chased after those dogs with the pepper spray another ten feet, fending them off to give us a head start to run.

I made a quick retreat, pocketing the can of pepper spray, and hauling Raven up by his arms, as he was still gasping, unable to breathe properly.

I led him as fast as I could up the front lawn and up the porch steps and in the unlocked door. Tears streamed down my face...I couldn't stand to hear him cry in pain like that, it rung in my ears in a way I can't even describe...

I slammed the door shut behind me.

There was that indescribable moment, both of us panting in silence.

That moment after every battle that hangs in the air forever, part relief, part fear. That whole mess had come up and gone so rapidly...it was gone as quick as it began. If everything had seemed surreal before, I might as well be living in a hectic, crazy, outlandish dream now.

Raven couldn't support himself on his own two legs, and began to collapse. I caught him in an embrace, and he leaned his chin on my shoulder.

He shakily breathed the closest to a sigh of relief that he could manage right then.

"Raven, I'm so sorry..." I shouldn't have lost my balance. This is all my fault...

I had one arm reaching around him on his back below the base of his wings, and the other on the back of his head. I ruffled his hair, and sniffed my runny nose, and rubbed his bare, beaten back to try to comfort him without hurting him more than he'd already just been hurt.

I could tell by the periodic sniffs he made that I wasn't the only one frightened by the whole ordeal back there. Raven buried his head in my shoulder and tried to take deep breaths. He was panting from the fear, from the pain, from resurfacing old memories. He held the hand of my extended arm, closing his eyes and holding to it tight.

I was the one he clung to. I saved him from the net not even two weeks ago. In my mind, he'd already paid me back for everything I'd done for him, by being the best friend I'd ever had, and giving me the best time of my life. And then I'd been so foolish as to fall to the ground at seeing those dogs' eyes and hearing them bark, and he'd turned around and saved my life with his wings...

To me, I owed him my life. And to him, he owed me his.

But his life would've never been in danger just back there if it wasn't for me. Then again, if it also wasn't for me, he'd still be trapped in the net in the woods, probably dead by now.

Those once beautiful wings, mangled for me... I should never have lost my balance.

Looking down, I was glad the floor was wooden. It would make it easier to mop up that bit of blood that dripped from his wings.

When Raven's breathing went from wheezing to gasps, he leaned away from me.

His cheeks, like mine, were streaked with tears. Our eyes red and puffy, our noses stuffy and sniffing. Our breathing was shaky, our lower lips trembling.

I didn't even quite understand how I was still crying, I just was, if you know what I mean — my eyes blurred, and saltwater dropped down my face, I had no control over it, like a leaky faucet. I knew the tears had probably stung Raven's back, but he let it so I'd stay close to him.

He reached up to my face and wiped a tear away.

"You saved my life," I murmured, my voice cracking. "Thank you..."

He opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to say it in words. He blinked away a tear, unafraid for me to see he was crying.

He leaned in a little...

I leaned in a little...

And then we rushed in the rest of the distance.

And without even knowing how it happened...he suddenly pulled me in tight and I threw my arms around his neck and...we kissed.

"Melody Ann Jenkins!" Grandma screeched. "What do you think that are you doing?"