A Breeding Darkness (Complete)

(32)

As Lucy climbed onto Joon's back, she felt him shift under her. She had ridden like this before, when he'd first saved her, but now he seemed agitated under her weight. He was still a raven, after all, even if he was as big as a house. Birds weren't meant for girls to travel on, and he didn't seem comfortable as he flexed his wings. She adjusted herself so that his muscles could move freely, without her legs interfering.

She popped open the compass and located North, before pointing it out for Joon. "That's the way," she said, leaning down on his back so that her face was near his. "I'll keep you on track."

He seemed to almost nod, and then with a rush he was in the air. The take-off was messy and terrifying, but once he cleared the trees and stabilized in the void of the sky, it was almost no different from being on the ground. Lucy couldn't see anything beyond her lantern light anyway, and the only way she knew she was moving was from the breeze against her skin, Joon's shifting body, and the fact that the needle on his dream compass moved as they did.

As they flew, Lucy offered Joon a few adjustments when she saw he was moving off course. She had no idea how they'd know when they'd reached the mountain, however, because all she saw below her was black. So she sat on Joon's back as a handful of minutes passed, and hoped that maybe he'd somehow sense they were at the mountain.

But she didn't have to worry. Because a few minutes later, she saw something she thought she'd never see again on the horizon. Sunlight. Blaring, blinding, amber sunlight glowing like a lantern among the darkness of the forest.

Somehow, the mountain was still in light. It rose out of the forest, wide and snow-capped, and the sunlight surrounded it in a circle. The trees and vegetation still in its small circumference of light were the gray-ish green she remembered the grass being in her territory. It was Zerkalo as it had been before the darkness had arrived. Yet, this was where the source was supposed to be. 

Joon took over at the sight of the light, and Lucy just had to wait while he circled the mountain and picked out a place to land. She saw, as they came around to the other side of the slope, that the darkness was actually sprouting from the mountain. Out of a cave about half-way up, a ribbon of black rippled down the mountainside like a river, and bled into the forest to join with the wall of solid black that had taken over all the rest of Zerkalo. Whatever the source was, it was in that cave.

Joon set down, and Lucy tumbled off him. She blew out her lantern to save on oil, and pocketed her compass. She turned to see if Joon was changing back, but he just stood as a raven, staring at the dark stream coming down from the mountain.

"Joon," she said, creeping forward cautiously. She didn't want to get too close, but she also was banking on the light perhaps driving the darker parts of Joon's bird personality back. But she couldn't be sure it would work. Especially not with the river of darkness course just a few feet away from them, and the one that coursed in Joon's veins, human or not.

She extended a hand, brushing it against his feathers. He cawed at her, hopping backward, his eyes training on her every movement. She froze, not sure if he was about to attack, but after a few seconds she stepped forward again and rested her hand on the ridges of his wounds that showed below his feathers.

"Joon, you have to remember that you're human," she whispered. "You're a prince. A man. You have to remember so we can save everyone."

The bird cawed, but it was soft and questioning. Lucy placed her other hand on his neck, petting his feathers and trying to remind him of what human touch felt like. She pressed her forehead to his neck and closed her eyes, hoping that she really could bring back the prince.

"Come back. Become human again. You're Joon," she whispered.

A second passed, and then she felt the body beneath her shift. Just like it had before, it shrunk rapidly and this time Lucy saw the feathers melt off him and turn into a black powder that flew away in the breeze. His form turned from bird to man, and then he fell over onto his knees, gasping for breath and shivering violently.

Lucy untied his clothes and threw them over him, helping him pull them on because his hands were barely functioning. He gasped for breath and stared at her, as if she was the first person he had seen in ages. He gripped her arm tightly, and she pulled him into a hug to wait for his shuddering to calm and his breathing to even out.

After a span of time, he finally stilled and then pulled slowly away from her to sit back on his haunches. He still stared at her strangely, and she suddenly realized that he couldn't remember his life before being the raven the first time. Perhaps he had forgotten the time he had spent with her, and he was back to being the blank slate Joon she had first met. Something about this seemed terrifying. That he could forget her, and become someone else entirely. It seemed almost as bad as losing him completely.

"You remember me, right?" she asked.

"Lucy," Joon said, his voice hoarse, but otherwise the same as she remembered. He smiled weakly, but genuinely. 

Lucy pulled him in for another quick hug, before helping him to his feet and dusting off his coat. He still shivered a little, but Lucy wasn't sure if it was from the change back into human form, or if he was simply cold. Because, despite the sunlight, it was frighteningly cold in this area. To distract him from either possibility, she opened her carpetbag and pulled out the bandages.

"I'll patch you up and then we can go up there," she said, jerking her chin toward where the cave and its ribbon of darkness sat a few hundred yards above them on the slope. Joon looked at it, his eyes wary, but let Lucy pull him close and wrap the clean bandages around his neck and chest again.

"Are you afraid?" Joon asked. Lucy glanced up at him, and saw he was looking down at her as she wound the bandages around his side. She paused, wondering how she should answer him. She was frightened of the darkness and what it meant, but she hadn't thought much of being afraid for herself or what might happen to her. She was too used to her mistakes dissolving as soon as she woke up in the real world. Now that her injuries from the dark creatures seemed to stay even after she woke, she supposed she should be a bit more frightened.

"I think I'll be once we see what's in that cave," she replied. "What is the source, and how can we get rid of it? Is it guarded? I think the fear will kick in once I see those things."

Joon chewed on his bottom lip, lowering his arms as she finished bandaging him. "I'm afraid of the darkness," he said. "I'm afraid of you waking up and leaving me here."

Lucy exhaled. "I'm so sorry, Joon. I didn't mean to leave you that time with the Samg."

"That's why I'm afraid. You didn't mean to, but you still had to leave. We can't control it at all." He seemed to shrink in on himself, staring up at the cave above them. "What if we destroy the darkness, but it makes it so that you can't come back? We're not sure I can ever leave. I could be here alone. Forever."

Lucy shook her head, forcing a smile on her face. "No. That won't happen." She took his hand in both of hers, swaying it gently. "I'm going to always come for you, no matter where you are."

"Promise?"

"Promise. I'll always find you."

Joon nodded and then inhaled. He squeezed her hands. "Let's get this over with," he whispered.