Free As The Wind (A Yogscast Fanfic)

Chapter 13~ Christmas pt/2

The small group all sat together in a small oval-ish circle. They passed out gifts, most laughing and cheering as they went. Sorrel remained quiet however, the noises set her on edge as they were almost all loud and sudden. Eventually, everyone had a small pile of gifts behind them. Silence fell as Trott held up a steady hand. 

"I hereby condemn all of you to the pain of waiting until one has opened a minimum of three gifts of wonder" Smith and Ross chuckled and patiently sat back, while Luna and Sorrel exchanged small confused glances at the difficult language. The boys grinned and Trott began tearing into his colourfully wrapped packages like a ravenous bear. Wrapping paper was flung everywhere, and the bonded ones struggled not to follow their fight or flight reactions into flight mode. Staying sat, they watched as Trott pulled out a small saxophone. Rolling his eyes at Ross, who at this point was on the floor laughing, he blew into it only to hear a small whistle from the other end. He fake scowled thrusting it to the side and pulling out his main present. 

"You got me a diamond watch!" His eyes lit up as he slapped it onto his wrist. Shining against the light, Trott managed to tear up somewhat. He threw his arms around Ross and Smith and hugged them tightly. Soon realising this was a little less than manly, Trott composed himself and sat back up.

"Luna, Sorrel, feel obliged to open some of your presents now" Smith chimed as the girls looked uncertainly at the gifts behind them. Sorrel shook her head. 

"I don't want to," She pushed them towards the others, "You have done too much already, you have them" The boys raised an eyebrow at each other,

"No, really Sorrel, you can have them!" Ross smiled sweetly, edging them back at the girl.

"We have bothered you long enough. I'm sorry Luna, I understand why you might want to stay," Sorrel said gently, standing and glancing between her best human friend and Smith, "But I can't stay any longer. This isn't my place, and it's no good for Opal either. I'm sorry, and thank you again for all you have done for me!" She apologised to the men, who at this point were starting to move towards her. Luna stayed sat on the floor, just staring at Sorrel. Tears brimmed her eyes. Sorrel started taking a few steps backwards.

"Sorrel, you're really no bother! Please, just sit back down, it's Christmas! Christmas is meant to be a time of joy and cheer! Merry! Please-" But Sorrel cut Ross off quickly by snapping,

"No! It is nothing special! It is a day where the winter is bad and the herd fight for their life. Without me. Not for long," She turned to leave, but glanced back over her shoulder at Luna, "See ya around" Then she ran. Straight out of the room, and headed towards Opal. Frantically, she fumbled with the lock and caught her finger. A small sprout of blood appeared but she ignored it, thrusting the door aside, Opal looked confused as he picked up on her mood. Instinct had completely taken over, and only one word rushed through her mind;

"Flight"

Luna stood and rushed the door, when Smith put a hand on her shoulder.

"She's gone Lun, leave her." Luna barged past and stepped out into the snow. The last she saw of Sorrel was her mad red hair blowing behind her with Opal's grey tail copying. Tears sprang to Luna's eyes as she watched her leave. Runo nudged her hand with a taint of sadness in his eyes. She watched him and could feel the longing to be running free as Sorrel and Opal were. She shut her eyes and allowed her conscience to drift. It swayed between options, staying and leaving. The pros of leaving outweighed the cons massively, but she wasn't sure she could handle the guilt. Eventually, her mind simply completely blacked out, and her lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorrel and Opal galloped until they could go no more, and came to a stop in a small hollow with a quick-running stream. Jumping off Opal's soft flecked back, Sorrel's bare feet landed in the crisp snow with a slight crunch. She knelt, her clothes still torn, and drank from the stream. On her back all she had was her shirt. No backpack as she once had, there was no time to pick it up as she ran. Opal too bent his neck to slurp from the stream, tiny grey hairs flowing off downstream from his nose. Sorrel was about to stand when Opal abruptly stopped drinking. His ears pricked and he swung his head to face the direction they had come from. Every muscle in his strong body was tense, and Sorrel shut her eyes so as to boost her sense of hearing. Tuning out all the other noises, from the chirping of the gentle robin off to her left to the harsh cry of the eagle, hunting what was left of mice in the white foliage. With this drowned out, she could make out a very distant buzzing. A familiar sound, one she recognised almost immediately.