Brightest Dark - Chapter 13

Instructions

Okay, so this is BaSicAlly a one-shot from Sandfox's POV, but I didn't want it to be a whole separate thing. I hope you enjoy!! ^w^ * Sandfox sank his claws into the soft, squishy mud below him. The Mudwing commander, whose name he still didn’t know, had taken them down to the marshes around the palace while they waited for Shadeleaf to wake up. While Aura tried to answer the commander’s many questions, Sandfox roamed around, looking for supplies to restock his medicine pouch. Without warning, he stumbled upon a clump of pretty white flowers and backtracked so as not to crush them. Very gently, he stroked one of their leaves. Daisies. A strange urge seized him, and he plucked the flower, pulling individual petals away with the rhythm in his mind. She loves me... She loves me not... He’d loved her for as long as he could remember, left home to follow her, become who he was to please her. How could he tell her? She loves me... She loves me not... Firestorm’s face swam before his eyes, his expression both accepting and dangerous. “If you mess this up, Sandfox...” He shook his head and allowed a smile to float across it. “I know you’ll treat her right. You can be with my sister. But don’t expect me to put up with it all the time!” She loves me... She loves me not... Familiar doubts started to surface. Why would anyone love him? He was incomplete, damaged, only part of a whole. Why, why, why... She loves me... She loves me not... He fought the negative thoughts and pulled his best, favorite memory with her into his mind. * “I’m a wreck.” Her broken voice echoed through his ears, and he blinked in surprise. Her face was buried in her talons, but he caught the glimmer of tears snake through them. Words welled up in his throat and he tried, tried, tried to force them out like he had so many times before, but... silence. “I’m so useless!” She was crying in earnest now, angry sobs choking on every breath she took. “I can’t do anything! Why do I even-” Her voice cracked, and the tears increased. He barely realized what he was doing before he did it. Wings around hers. One talon on hers. Touching. Comforting. Her scales were cool on his, smooth as sea glass. Please. Please. Let her understand... She shuddered and curled against him, breathing rapid and intense. And then... It slowed. The tears stopped. And then... A smile. Tiny and tearstained. A smile. * He blinked, looking down at his claws. The last petal was grasped tightly between them. He’d forgotten which it had been. But... Did it matter? Gently, he gathered the petals and formed them into a tiny heart in the mud, shining like stars reflected in deep water. And he walked back towards the palace. She loves me... She loves me not... She loves me.