Legend Reborn

Chapter 24: More Love Than One

"That's not true," Gilbert says in my ear. "You're not weak or pathetic, and your life is definitely not worthless. You're one of the most awesome people I know."

"Next to you of course," I tease, but his lips hardly twitch. "I'm glad you don't think I'm worthless. I felt that way for a long time. Probably until I met Kiku, and that wasn't for another year after I lost Kip."

"Tell me about that," the Bear says.

"Maybe some other time," I tell him as I wipe a small tear from my eyes. Thinking about my little dog always makes me emotional. "It's starting to get dark now. We should probably go back."

"I don't wanna," Gilbert whines. He tightens his hold around my waist and buries his head in my hair. "I wanna stay here with you."

I gently pry his arms away from my body and stand up. "Come on," I say, offering him my hands. "We have to go back or your brother is going to be worried."

The white haired Bear uses my hands to stand up, but pulls me closer to him in the process. "I don't care about West. He can worry all he wants," he whispers as his hand leaves a trail of fire down my back.

"You will care when he sees us like this," I manage to say through the haze forming in my mind. It's hard to think with Gilbert this close, and he knows it.

"Fine, fine," he sighs and takes a step back. "But you're going to tell me the rest of your story sometime."

I gently interlock my fingers with his as we start walking back to the small village. "Don't worry. I promise I'll finish it."

We walk for a ways in silence. I enjoy the nature around us more than when I first set out to find Gilbert. The grass sways gently in the breeze and the last of the sunlight slowly disappears over the vast horizon. A few bright stars can already be seen in the east as the sky continues to darken. I can only imagine how beautiful the stars must look in the dead of night when they stretch all the way across the obsidian sky.

My thoughts are interrupted as Gilbert stops under the tree I passed when looking for him. I turn to see what's the matter, but his head is partially obscured by the shadow of the tree.

"Gil?"

"It's not right," he says quietly. "It's not right that people could treat you like that." It becomes apparent then how much my story had bothered the Bear. He looks up at me with piercing eyes. "I wish I could have saved you from that pain."

I let go of Gilbert's big, warm hand, and he looks at me with surprise. I step closer to him and wrap my arms around his broad chest. "Thank you for caring about me," I say softly. "I'm glad you're here now."

Gilbert pulls me in tightly with his arms. One hand brushes against one of my wings as it travels up my back. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" I ask. I pull back enough to look into his face, which has a mixture of different emotions on it.

"How did you become such a good person? Everyone treated you so bad, but you turned out okay," the Bear clarifies.

I smile at him, which only seems to confuse him further. "You'll find out in the second half of the story."

Gilbert sighs. "You're really gonna make me wait? Not awesome."

"Sorry," I say with a shrug. "We need to get back before they send people out to look for us."

"I guess you're right," the Bear grumbles. He grabs my hands and we continue walking toward the Wolf village.

"I'm usually right," I tell him with a hint of smugness in my voice.