Chapter 15 - BigB Shafts of light sparkled through the treetops as BigB walked, His footsteps leaving imprints in the soft ground. A breath of fresh air filled his lungs and he smiled. The forest floor was littered with leaves and branches, a few almost tripping him He could feel the beating of his heart in his ribcage. It was very different from a regular human one, but equally far from being a creaking heart. Instead of spawning in a tree like all those articles online had told him it should, his old heart had just changed. A glowing yellow shape pulsing inside his chest. With some effort, he could take it out of himself and as long as he kept it safe, he was completely invulnerable. One of the benefits of his new form. That said, it wasn't all good. He enjoyed being with the others at the tower, but it was pretty annoying to be slowed down every time he was looked at. The other three tried to help by avoiding looking at him, but that in itself felt a bit like he was being ignored. So now he was outside, mostly just aimlessly wandering around. He’d so far found nothing of interest, just trees and more trees. Still, it felt great to be able to move and speak normally again. The trees thinned slightly and he came into a little clearing. The sky held only small wisps of clouds, and those were few and far between. The sun hung almost directly overhead, brightening the treetops and casting shadow into the undergrowth. The scene was near perfect. Seeing the sun’s position reminded him that he should be going back. He’d left in the early morning, and it had apparently been a few hours. Pearl and the others were probably worried. He turned and began to trek back in the direction of the tower. He followed a sort of makeshift path he’d made when he’d left. Though even without it he would have probably done finding his way, as his sense of direction seemed to have been increased with becoming part creaking. Eventually he reached the hill on which the tower could be seen, peeking out of the trees that surrounded it. As he climbed he could hear Pearl’s voice from the balcony. He couldn’t quite make out the words, but it sounded as if she was talking to her dogs. The climb up the hill and the subsequent walk up the tower’s stairs left BigB breathless. He stood panting at the top, glancing around for his friends. Martyn and Ren seemed to be having what looked to be a staring contest in the middle of the room. Both of their eyes were red and bigB thought he saw a few tears falling down both of their faces from the lack of blinking. BigB tore his eyes away from the two—thankfully neither of them had looked in his direction so he was still at normal speed—and walked over to the doors leading onto the balcony where Pearl could be seen sitting with her dogs. The glass doors creaked slightly as he opened them, alerting Pearl to his presence. “Oh, hey BigB!” She grinned up at him and he felt his movements slow. Probably noticing this, Pearl looked back down at Billy whom she was currently petting. “Hey,” BigB sat next to her, and Tilly came and laid her head in his lap. Though he had only really tested it with Pearl’s dogs, animals seemed to have no effect on BigB’s speed. It was a fact that he was quite happy about. “How was the walk?” “Pretty good.” vv continued in N&C vv
vv continued vv Pearl nodded. “To be honest, we were getting a bit worried. Martyn suggested I go fly and find you.” BigB smiled at the concern. Suddenly a muffled yell was heard from inside. Alarmed, Pearl and BigB sprang to their feet and rushed through the doors. The scene was however quite the opposite from what they had been dreading. Martyn was curled on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. Ren stood at the edge of the room, glaring. “Come on man! That’s completely unfair, You knew I would fall for it!” Ren said, crossing his arms. Martyn tried, but couldn’t get out anything even remotely intelligible. Pearl raised an eyebrow. “what happened?” “Martyn thought it’d be funny to yell ‘squirrel’ to see if I’d chase after it.” Ren explained, shooting another reproachful look at his friend. “Did it work?” Ren paused. “...yeah.” BigB and Pearl both laughed. After a few moments, Martyn finally regained some of his composure and moved to a sitting position. “You- your face-” Martyn wiped a tear from one eye. “You looked so excited.” “Did not!” “Did too!” Ren crossed his arms and pouted, his tail touching the ground. After another small chuckle, Martyn looked away and finally noticed BigB standing next to Pearl. “BigB! you’re not dead!” Martyn noted, grinning. His sudden gaze made it a little difficult to respond, so BigB just smiled. “How was the walk then? Find anything?” Martyn turned away as he said this, looking back to Ren. “Nah, It was really pretty, but there wasn’t much other than trees.” Ren’s expression slowly morphed into more of a thoughtful one, and he tilted his head to the side. When he spoke, his voice had lost all signs of annoyance towards Martyn, instead adapting a slightly more pensive tone. “What are we even going to do here? I mean, Martyn, you're fine, but the rest of us can’t exactly go out in public.” Martyn shrugged. “Well you could probably go in disguise like before, but I do know what you mean.” All four stared off into the distance, trying to come up with some way out of their current situation, if any even existed. BigB suddenly smiled, remembering why he’d even come to the tower in the first place. BigB and Pearl were never best friends, not that they weren’t friends, they just didn’t hang out as much as they did with others. And anyway, that specific title had always belonged to Gem or Scott. Though, BigB supposed, with all the drama that had been going on between the three, Pearl probably didn’t think of them that way anymore. Though they may have drifted apart over the years, they’d been super close as kids. Like when nine-year-old Pearl had found a super cool abandoned tower in the woods, BigB had been the first person she’d told. Ever since then, he would often see her out walking, more often than not ending up at that spot. So when he’d seen Pearl fly from her backyard several nights prior, now bearing moth wings, he had figured that would be where she’d be. “I have an idea.” BigB provided, still smiling. “Go on?” Ren said, looking interestedly at the floor. “Have any of you heard of the Heart Foundation?” “Isn’t it that one charity on the other side of town where you volunteer?” Pearl asked. “Yeah, but it’s not just a charity. We also help to shelter and hide endangered hybrids.” The other’s eyebrows shot up. There had always been rumors of “hybrid safehouses” floating around, especially when the whole fiasco had first begun. But most people thought them completely stamped out by now, if any had ever existed. That apparently was not the case. “I’m sure they won’t mind if I bring some friends.” Sorry for the wait guys :’) This chapter’s a tiny bit boring lol First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1059153057/ Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1164170074 Next: none
