Storm Call

Restless Regrets

Azazel lay awake, tail wrapping around his hips as he tossed and turned, careful to not disturb and awaken the two sharing the bed with him. He looked at them, noticing the dim glow of Ender's rings, before burying his face in his hands. A sigh escaped him before the tears began to fall. Have I really done nothing but hurt him? Can I even expect him to forgive me for what I've done to him? As he cried on, Stella began to wake up, hearing him.

"Something the matter, Azazel?" Her groggy voice came, shortly followed by a yawn. She reached out to him, only to feel soaked fur. "Is this... about Ender?" Stella wasn't sure of what to expect from him as a response, but was surprised when he further curled into a ball. There has to be something that happened that neither of them is telling me.

"Don't feel bad about me. Ender should've just let me be killed by the curse. I deserved it." Azazel murmured, tears still freely leaking. "I'm only good for causing harm, there's no reason for me to be here, Stella. Just... freeze me in a block of ice or something. Please." His body slowly became covered in electric blue scales, a few of which carried a weak current, as he turned to the wall. "What was I thinking, working for that bastard?"

"Azazel," the name came, strongly. "Stop it. You can't change the past, what's done is done. Even if you could, you don't know what might've happened instead, but you can always change what happens next. You just have to do something other than mope around, and the first thing you should probably do is apologize, sincerely." Ender began to stretch, his claws digging slightly into the bed. "I'm not forgiving you right now, but you should at least say sorry." He looked at him, the rings slowly brightening, before adding, "If I'd let you die, Enze and I wouldn't have made it very far with our own grief, either." He wasn't expecting Azazel to suddenly rush in his feral form to hug him, so when he got there, Ender's claws scratched his back. It didn't stop him from whispering his apologies over and over behind his ear.

"Y...your claws are digging kinda deep," Azazel whispered, "could you maybe...?" As he felt them recede, the scales returned as his attempt to keep them covered. "I missed those. Your hugs, I mean." He noticed Stella's neck scales begin to shift colors before changing the subject. "Can we... agree that Navomi's the main reason for both our problems, at least? I could never talk about how much I hated him because he'd never let me get out of earshot, but I don't have to worry about it now." Roni, on the other hand... he's probably sent her to find Rika, paranoid as he is.

By the time Ender had started to add his bit, Stella spoke up. "If we're all feeling better about everything now, we should rest. I'm sure your friends would want you up and ready to go in the morning, Azazel. Sonui's been aching to take back our scroll and fix the whole mess, so we're planning a surprise party for the bastard.

The killing kind."