curryfury13 - Tumblr blog

curryfury13 · 29 days

Text

Chapter 38 - Recover

7k Words

Summary - Everything went wrong on Enchanted Dominion. Back at base, everyone is wrestling with the aftermath, asking themselves the same question... What happens now?

-------------------------------------

The mattress sank beneath Hinata, the frame creaking and whining as if it were a mother worrying over her child. Chirithy pulled up the comforter and Hinata accepted it silently, offering a tiny smile. Her skin stung from the shower. Raw and reddened. Her hair clung to her face, dripping water onto her pillow. Chirithy had offered to dry it, but she just wanted to crawl into bed.

“Can I get you anything?” Chirithy asked.

Hinata shook her head and croaked out a raspy: “no thank you.” Chirithy pulled out a small water bottle from its pouch regardless, putting it on her bedside table, before disappearing in a puff of magic. Then Hinata was alone. She pulled her blanket up to her nose while her eyes dazedly drifted around the room. They’d only been gone a day, not even a speck of dust managed to accumulate on her desk while she was away, yet nothing seemed the same.

The warmth from the hanging lights felt a touch colder. Her journals didn’t hold the same excitement for her as they did before she left. When she entered her room, she hadn’t reached for her Journey Journal to see what new picture showed up from their newest adventure. Even her tablet remained untouched on her bedside table, with an unopened message from Riku.

Her gaze settled on the ceiling. The hanging lights above her bed seemed akin to stars to her blurry, exhausted eyes. Just like the cracks in the ceiling back in the throne room, when Keres healed her. A hot, burning tear slipped down her cheek. She used the blanket to scrape it away, the fabric irritating her already raw skin and that, of course, only caused more tears to form in response.

She tightly closed her eyes, allowing the thin hot streams of water to pour down her cheeks. There was no point in stopping it now. She cried softly into the stillness of the night, burying her tears in her comforter.

Everything went wrong that day. The worry of Velcia weighed on her heart. The judgment of Lupe and Sam, her father, of Riku, settled in the back of her mind. Deep down, she hoped they’d understand. She thought of Keres. She thought of all the ways her heart changed over the course of a single confrontation and she was disgusted with herself for taking so long to see Keres for who she really was.

Because now, maybe it was all too late. The Organization took Keres back and there was no telling what they planned to do with her. If they even meant to keep her alive. Hinata thought back to all the times her friends went to the ends of the galaxy to get her back when she was taken, yet now everyone seemed so calm. She could barely move, it still hurt to breathe, even with the healing spells and potions, there wasn’t anything she could conceivably do to track Keres down right now. But laying there, sobbing into her blanket in a dark quiet room, all alone, she felt nothing short of pathetic.

She had to do something.

She mumbled something into her blanket, then pulled it away, saying it again, “B-Ben… Ben, can you come here?”

Silence. Her eyes peeled open, blurry from all the tears.

“Ben?” she tried a little louder.

A white light flashed in her room. Hinata pulled the blanket over her face instinctively.

“Reporting for duty, Ma’am!” Ben chimed in his usual cheery tone.

Hinata lowered the blanket and sputtered into a chuckle at the sight of Ben saluting towards her. Then was greeted by Jack bombarding her with a slew of doggie kisses. He nuzzled her cheek, licking away her tears, whimpering in a way that Hinata could swear she could almost understand him.

“Oh, I brought Jack with me, too,” Ben said while Hinata dealt with her worried ghost dog.

“Jack,” Hinata sobbed out his name and pulled him under the covers with her, holding him close. “I missed you too, bud.”

Satisfied with his new position, Jack settled with nuzzling beneath Hinata’s chin.

Using her palm to wipe away some tears, Hinata said, “T-Thanks for coming.”

“Well, of course,” Ben told her. He sat down and scooted himself across the floor till he was beside her bed. “I’m always gonna come when my captain needs me.”

“Hmm.” Hinata hummed with a soft smile. “Thank you for saving me. Chirithy mentioned the scanner was your idea.”

“I wasn’t about to let the Organization get you again,” Ben told her adamantly.

“What would you have done if they did?” she asked.

He tilted his head, the colors of his eyes changing from yellow to green. “Why?”

She looked away from him, scritching Jack between the ears. “I want to do the same for Keres.”

Ben blinked. For once, he didn’t have anything to say in an immediate response. He moved to sit with his back up against the bedside table. “You used to call her Thaanix.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised he picked up on her using Keres’ name. There wasn’t any simple way to explain it, she didn’t understand it herself quite yet. She closed her eyes, blowing out a breath through her nose. Jack’s tiny tongue licked her chin, it was warm, yet stung with a cold, itching chill right after. Nothing really helped at the moment. He meant it as a comfort, the same way the plush blanket wrapped around her and the warm light above her were meant to bring her it. She soaked in the small semblance of comfort from it that she could, smiling with pouted lips at Jack’s worried whimpers.

“You…” Ben continued to decipher things, going slow and methodical. “You said you had to destroy her.”

“I know…”

“And everything she’s done,” Ben continued. “You said she was an irredeemable monster.”

“...I’m pretty sure Sam said that.”

“Ok, fair, but you agreed, right?”

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and she sucked in a breath, nodding.

“You even yelled at Santa Claus about her!”

“I… yes, I did.”

“WHAT HAPPENED DOWN THERE?!” Ben leapt to his feet, making both Jack and Hinata startle. Jack floated up with a series of unappreciative barks and Ben put both his hands to his mouth. “Sorry,” he said with a hushed voice, “Sorry! I just don’t get it!”

Hinata’s expression strained, holding something back until it broke out with a snort of laughter. She doubled over, letting out a mixture of hoarse laughs and hacking coughs. Ben roughly patted her back, helping her regain her breath as Jack grumbled to Ben about it with low growls and whines. “I-I’m ok, Jack,” she assured him. “Thanks.” She swallowed, cringing at the burning sensation. “I needed that.” Jack nestled into her lap and she smiled, scritching behind his ears. “I guess I should explain what happened, huh?”

--------------------------------------------

The little flame over the lighter flickered. Lupe idly mused over the way its orange glow casted on his hand every time he flicked the lid open again. He leaned against the railing on his apartment’s rooftop, cigarette in one hand, his lighter in the other as he flicked its hinged lid open and shut over and over again. His cheeks hollowed, smoke filling his mouth. He let it settle there for a moment, removing the cigarette from his mouth before he blew out the smoke between his lips, imagining he were releasing his thoughts into the world. There went his worries about whether he’d helped enough during the mission today, he could see it wisping in the breeze, disappearing above the rooftops and likewise from his mind. That wasn’t really how it worked, but it was nice to imagine.

The last couple hours had been quiet. He’d spent a lot of it talking and cuddling with Chirithy, recuperating, making sense of everything. Now he was releasing it all and next he’d… He wasn’t sure what was next. He’d take it a step at a time. Maybe he’d head out to find Anice.

A white light flashed in his peripheral, but when he looked over nothing was there. He took out his cigarette, puffing out the smoke in his mouth.

“I could have sworn I—”

“Heya there, Lupe!” Ben yelled from down below, hands cupped around his mouth.

“Gah!” Lupe jumped, his limbs pretzelling in the air.

His cigarette went flying behind him, leaving a thin trail of embers and smoke in its wake. His lighter flew up in the air, bouncing off the railing, Lupe tried to catch it, nearly managing it, but it slipped through his fingers. He leaned over the railing, reaching helplessly as it bounced down each balcony until it crashed to the sidewalk below.

“Chiriiiiii—” Lupe groaned, his head hanging limply over the railing.

“On it,” Chirithy assured him.

Chirithy appeared at ground level in a puff of magic, greeting Ben and telling him to come on up to the apartment. Then it reappeared beside Lupe, holding up the banged up lighter.

“Thank you…” Lupe reached over and took it back.

“Mmhmm.” Chirithy also retrieved the tossed away cigarette, putting it out in the ashtray. “Ben will be up soon.”

Lupe sighed, his body slouching further over the railing for just a moment. Then he pushed himself to stand back up straight, taking a deep breath. “Well,” he ruffled his hair, moving it out of his face, “better see what he wants then.” He chuckled, shrugging towards Chirithy. “Should be interesting.”

“Should be,” Chirithy agreed, turning to go back inside. “I’m going to let him in.”

With one more longing look towards the town, Lupe followed Chirithy inside. Ben knocked on the front door just as Lupe slid the back door shut and Chirithy looked up at him, awaiting the confirmation to open the door. Lupe leaned back against the kitchen counter and gave a nod. A mist of sparkling magic lifted Chirithy off the ground and it unlocked the front door, allowing Ben inside.

“Hey Ben!” Lupe greeted. “Everything alright?”

Ben pointed at him with both hands. “So glad you asked, Lupe! Sorry about catching you off guard like that. But we’ve got some important work to do!”

Lupe’s lips jutted out. He didn’t recall anything extra on their plate for the night. In fact, if anything, he recalled DiZ directly ordering him to get some rest. But Ben seemed eager and earnest enough. He’d hear him out.

“What did you have in mind?” Lupe asked. He pushed off the counter and led the way towards the living room, Ben and Chirithy following.

Ben remained standing. His gears were turning in his head, so hard Lupe could hear them whirring. Lupe sat down on the couch and he leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. He watched Ben think, seeing bits of code running across his eyes and he found himself entirely intrigued. Maybe he really did find something important for them to do.

“I’m trying to figure out where to start,” Ben told him. “Cause once I start, I get rambling. And if I ramble, then you can lose everything I say. And this is just too important to lose what I’m saying. You know what I mean?”

Lupe chuckled, his hand going over his mouth. “Yeah, I get you.”

Ben blew out a breath even though he didn’t breath and rubbed the back of his thin metal neck. “Hinata has a plan. Well sort of. She wants something, and it’s up to you and me to come up with the plan.” Ben looked beside Lupe. “Oh! And Chirithy can help, too.”

“What does she want?” Chirithy asked.

Clasping his metal hands together as if he were about to say a prayer, Ben stared at the wall past them. “This is going to sound crazy. But I promise it’s the truth.” He pointed the prayer hands towards them. “Hinata. Wants. To. Save. Keres.”

“She does?!” Chirithy squeaked with a hop.

Lupe smiled. “She told you about it.”

“You knew?” Chirithy asked, turning towards him.

“I could hear bits and pieces over the earpiece,” Lupe explained, waving his hand. “But not everything since it was in her pocket.”

Ben’s eyes flickered to a bit of orange and he flung his hands in the air. “And when were you planning on sharing that information with the rest of the crew, LUPE?!”

Lupe sputtered into a laugh, trying to stifle it by covering his mouth. “I, I wasn’t trying to hide it! I figured I’d talk about it with Hina when she was ready. It was a big thing for her!” He swallowed the amusement and cleared his throat, getting serious. “But seriously, Ben, I hadn’t meant to upset you with it. I’m so excited she told you about it.”

The orange faded back to yellow in an instant and Ben skipped over to the couch. “Oh I know! Isn’t it exciting? Ever since we talked with Santa, I had a feeling that there was something about Keres that wasn’t all bad. Destroying her didn’t feel right.” He guffawed, flinging his hand. “Listen to rusty ole me talk about not destroying someone. You should hear what I did back in my time with Captain Flint! Speaking of! You know, I was just telling Hina about him! Now that was a captain. Not a great guy, mind you. But he got things done! He picked a ship and the crew got it done. And I told Hina. I said, don’t you worry Hina. You want us to find Keres, Lupe and I will get it done! So that’s why I’m here. We’re gonna figure it out. Even if it takes all night. Which is fine with me, since I’m a robot. And you’re—well are you real Lupe? I don’t know if you are or if you actually need sleep. I noticed you didn’t actually sleep when we were all over here for the movie night last week. You seemed like you were, but I scanned and you weren’t. I wasn’t. I don’t sleep. I turn off my lights and all that, but my functions are still going. Do yours work like that? Maybe you’re a robot like me? But you have a heart. Do you think I have a heart? Ah, it doesn’t matter. You let me know when I’m rambling!”

A lot of different emotions went through Lupe throughout Ben’s rambling. He winced, smiled, chuckled, tensed, and leaned back in his seat, wishing he could disappear into the cushion entirely. “Hey, Ben?” he interrupted, eyes closing. Normally he wouldn’t talk over someone, but Ben didn’t take breaths often.

Ben immediately stopped. “Ah… I was rambling, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah.” “I do that…” Ben admitted, his eyes dimming blue.

Chirithy tapped Lupe’s leg and Lupe peeked an eye open. “Woah, woah, hey Ben, it’s ok,” Lupe assured him. He leaned forward and pulled Ben into a side hug. “I don’t know what I am either. Thinking about it is a bit weird for me.”

“AH! So topic to avoid!” Ben realized.

“Something like that,” Lupe chuckled. He scooted over, pulling one of his legs up onto the couch. “But-uh, to answer your question, I don’t ‘fall asleep’ really, it’s more of a voluntary thing. I’m partially aware of what’s going on around me and I’m regaining energy, but I’m also storing away stuff that happened that day.” He ruffled his hand through his hair. “If any of that makes sense.”

“Mmhmm, perfect sense.” Ben nodded. “When you shut down, your functions make a backup.”

It sounded much more mechanical than Lupe appreciated, but he couldn’t actually refute it because Ben was completely right. Clearing his throat, Lupe got back to the task at hand. “Right, anyway, I think I heard you also mention Hina wanted to find Keres. Do you have any ideas?”

Ben accepted the change in subject in stride and turned towards him. “I have hundreds, but most of them end in the Highwind exploding.”

Lupe made a face, the sort of face one would make when finding crumbs in a box where they expected to find a slice of cake. “Wh-Why does the Highwind—” he ended the sentence with a laugh, his head hanging forward. “Ben, oh my god, you are amazing.”

“Thanks! I do like to be thorough,” Ben beamed.

“Do you drink mineral oil?” Chirithy asked, hopping up onto the coffee table so it could be seen by both of them.

Ben’s eyes illuminated to double intensity. “Do I?! Do you have some?!”

“Yeah,” Lupe said with a laugh still in his voice. “Chiri and I bought some after the last time you were here. But-um, Ben, what about Kamino?”

“What about it?” Ben asked. He squealed quietly when Chirithy handed him the bottle of mineral oil.

“Could Keres be there?” Lupe asked. “Maybe they set up base there again.”

“Hmm,” Ben hummed, then took a drink of the cold oil. He danced happily, humming a little tune. Lupe watched, amused, patiently waiting for Ben's answer. “Kamino got preeeetty destroyed last time we were there. Keres made sure of that. And DiZ had me wipe the database once he had me download the information he wanted.” He paused, taking another sip of his oil. “But, a lot of the data is still locked away. DiZ and I started decoding it but he got pretty distracted with you and the Heart Encoder. So… there might be something in there.”

“I don’t know much about that sort of thing, but…” Lupe ruffled his hair. “I might be able to figure it out eventually and I’m always here with time to kill. Can you send it to my computer?”

“That’s a great idea!” Ben jumped, nearly spilling some of his drink. “And I’ll come over to help!”

Lupe smirked. “That’s a bit of progress, but not really enough for what Hinata’s probably looking for.”

“Hmm, that’s true,” Ben agreed, hand to his chin. “There was that tracker DiZ was talking about working on. It was another one of those projects that got started but didn’t really go anywhere.”

“I think I remember him mentioning it, too,” Lupe recalled.

“He was wanting us to build it for him,” Chirithy said, hopping onto the coffee table. “But we aren’t inventors, unfortunately.”

“Yeah,” Lupe sighed. “I wonder if Sam could take a look at it.”

“Oooh, that’s an idea!” Ben pointed at him. “I bet me and Sam could figure it out. Though I think I remember DiZ saying it needed a magic element, too.”

“And with Velcia in the pod…” Chirithy said softly, its paw to its chin.

“Hinata might be able to manage it when she’s recovered,” Lupe said. “I guess it depends on what it needs.”

Ben nodded. He swigged the last few drops of the oil and put the bottle down on the table. Then he hopped up and pumped his fist in the air. “Looks like we’ve got a plan!” --------------------------------------------

Another nightmare. Cold beads of sweat dripped down Hinata’s forehead. Her gasping heaves of breath filled the quiet room. Hours had passed since Ben left, or maybe only mere minutes. The blanket had long been tossed away, even the pillows. She laid on top of her mattress in a position that attempted to have none of her limbs touching any other part of her body. Even the slightest touch was too much. It burned, it itched, it made her want to crawl out of her own skin.

Her tablet illuminated on her bedside table, vibrating. The sound grated her ear and she clenched her teeth. She still hadn’t checked it since she’d returned and she’d hoped to hold it off until she’d gotten at least a little bit of rest, but her mind didn’t seem like it was going to cooperate. So she awkwardly reached for it and slid it off the table. The brightness of the screen bombarded her eyes and she hissed like a vampire being hit with a ray of sunlight.

There were messages from a few different people awaiting her. Some from her friends back on Eos, a couple even from Jim Hawkins, from Sam, a few from her dad, and lastly, a single message from Riku. She read through the others’ first. Some pictures from Prompto helped take her mind off things. None of them had any idea what she was going through and she just as likely had no idea the troubles they were fighting, but they shared these moments, these snapshots of happiness and tranquility. Jim sent pictures of his latest solar surfer and a new hiding spot Morph found in his dorm at the Academy. Sam was checking in, telling her she was there for her and making guesses what their next movie night would be. Her dad told her to get some rest, and where to find Velcia’s pod when she was ready to see her for herself.

Velcia’s pod… Hinata was the one that ordered the others to put Velcia in one. It likely saved her life, but reading it so casually, as if everyone had a pod every now and again, it struck her. There was no telling how long Velcia would be inside it, or if she’d ever fully recover. She’d thrown herself in front of Hinata… just like James did.

A familiar numbness enveloped her heart. Hinata stared at the screen, blinking. She reread the message from her dad, over and over again, memorizing where to find Velcia when she could walk again. Then she placed the tablet against her chest and stared up at the ceiling.

“That’s two people now,” she whispered into the dark.

Only silence answered her. Nothing could be said to make it right. At least this time, they’d managed to save Velcia’s life.

Lifting her tablet, she exited her dad’s message and went to Riku’s. It was a single message, sent within minutes of her returning to the mansion.

“I’m here when you’re ready.”

Her hand gently touched the message, as if it connected her directly to him. She wanted to talk to him. To hear his voice and hear his ideas. Even if he’d be upset with her… though she knew him well enough by now. He wouldn’t be upset. They’d both made questionable calls in the past on missions and dealt with the consequences. It was more herself she was upset with. The fact she went after Keres without so much as a fleeting thought towards Riku.

Those dark specters would have completely destroyed her if it had not been for Keres. Then everything she and Riku worked for would have been gone in an instant. Both of them knew the risks involved, but she hadn’t expected herself to take one so blatantly like that. Nothing made sense anymore. But Riku did. He made sense.

So she brought up the keypad and typed, “I need you.” Then hit send.

Three little dots appeared beneath her message. It was as if he’d been waiting for her.

“I’ll be right there.”

A soft exhale of breath escaped her. She wasn’t sure what it was from really, disbelief maybe, or relief. They’d figure things out together. She glanced around the room, seeing the state of it. There wasn’t anything she could do about it now, or to herself. Even without touching her hair, she could tell it didn’t take to air drying well. Tossing and turning on a mattress didn’t create the nicest of hairstyles.

She got a small semblance of amusement from the thought of it though—imagining the sight of what Riku was about to unwittingly walk into. Certainly wasn’t the worst he’d ever seen of her. She supposed it came with being in love with someone, taking the good along with that bad. Or something along those lines, she was getting antsy waiting for him.

Thankfully, the wait wasn’t much longer. White light poured in from underneath the door, shortly illuminating the room before disappearing. Riku softly knocked on the door as he opened it.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“You’re here.” Hinata moved to sit up, immediately regretting the movement and hissed.

“Stay still,” he ordered.

He stepped over the strewn blankets without casting them a glance. Grabbing a pillow off the floor, he looked at the bed, analyzing it. Hinata watched him, amused and a bit embarrassed at the same time, which was a nice distraction from how much her skin felt akin to being on fire. Riku wasn’t in his usual black coat, but in pajamas. He must have been in bed at the Mysterious Tower, or at least, that’s what Hinata assumed. He wore one of the shirts she bought him from Twilight Town, flannel pants, and his hair was loosely braided over his shoulder. She wondered if Master Yen Sid knew he was gone from the tower.

The mattress creaked. Riku carefully climbed over Hinata, taking special care not to touch her before plopping down on the opposite end of the bed against the wall with a soft thud. Both of them chuckled softly and Riku settled onto his side with the pillow, facing Hinata. She looked over at him, realizing she wasn’t sure what to say.

He didn’t pressure her to say anything. Eventually, Hinata looked back up at the ceiling, her eyes fluttering from one light to the next until they shut entirely. She felt Riku’s gaze on her, studying her. It wasn’t intrusive, but protective, inquisitive. Clothes rustled and she felt the weight of him moving. He picked up her locket hanging from her neck, his finger brushing along the engraving.

“Have you watched it lately?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Can I?” he asked.

She opened her eyes, smiling softly as she nodded.

He smiled back and undid the clasp to open it. The hologram glowed with life between them. They watched it a few times, neither of them saying anything. Hinata’s eyes were becoming heavy, her body had the odd sensation like it was floating and sinking into the bed at the same time. It took a few nodding moments for her to realize that she was starting to finally fall asleep.

“Riku…” she murmured, her head lolling to the side and her eyes half open.

“Hmm?” he hummed, also falling asleep.

“You were right about me… with Keres,” she confessed.

He hummed with a smile. His hand moved over to hers, the tips of their fingers just barely touching. “I know…”

She smiled too, her thoughts drifting to pleasant dreams of the island. --------------------------------------------

The following two days slogged by for Sam. It took forever for her arm to recharge and even longer for her to buff out the scratches and dents in the metal. Nothing happened around the mansion. Everyone was quiet. Hinata still hadn’t woken up. They’d returned from the mission and Hinata hadn’t left her room since. Ben and Chirithy periodically checked on her, even Riku stopped by at some point—Sam wasn’t sure when he showed up, she just saw him wandering around the mansion at some point.

Sam hadn’t slept much. She tinkered with random projects, but those didn’t bring as much calm as she would have liked. Her mind kept recalling black claws digging into metal—that awful, grating sound, and she’d toss her tools down. That Unmade bird knew what it was doing when it grabbed her back on Enchanted Dominion. If it hadn’t been for Lupe’s instruction, it might have succeeded in ripping off her mechanical arm… It could have, and it haunted her more than she wanted to admit.

And so, she was looking for unique ways to distract herself, which led to her finding Bedivere’s journal about training Gwythaints, titled: ‘Lessons Learnt From Greater Beasts’. It wasn’t the usual type of book she’d read and the way Bedivere wrote was different, but it kept her mind off things. She walked through the mansion reading it, trying to keep herself moving. The halls were empty. Lupe had been spending most of his time in his Twilight Town, probably recuperating, not that Sam blamed him. He stopped by occasionally, but Sam was finding herself alone most of the time lately.

She eventually reached the main foyer of the digital mansion. She looked up from her book and pushed open the back doors to the garden. It seemed like DiZ had put in a bit more work into coding the place since she’d last looked at it. The details weren’t as fuzzy as they were before, but still had tiny bits of code floating off the tops of the flower beds. Long benches lined the cobbled paths between the flowers, but the main attraction was an ornate fountain in the center of it all. A sculpted stallion with an illustrious mane. Stars and galaxies were traced into its body, creating an intricate and artistic display. Sam held the journal down at her side as she examined the entire stature, realizing it was actually a unicorn with a horn protruding out of the mane.

“Who designed this?” she asked. She snickered at the mental image of DiZ sketching this artistic unicorn in his basement, surrounded by his dozens of computer screens. It just didn’t seem to line up. But it was still a beautiful sculpture. She admired it a little longer, her thoughts starting to drift along with the stars mapped in the stone, before she shook her head and went over to a bench.

Laying on her back across it, she opened Bedivere’s journal once again, finding her spot:

----

‘Whistling

With the proper training, a distinct set of defined whistles can be a very effective way to communicate with a Gwythaint. They have excellent hearing, well-tuned to the higher notes, and when young are eagerly attentive to communicative sounds. Developing a consistent tone and set of notes may allow direct commands to be given wordlessly and from a distance, if taught clearly.

The first lesson must be a call to summon the Gwythaint, as this will be the foundation of all others. Produce a single, unique whistle, and be vigilant in using this every time. The high-pitched notes will naturally capture their attention, and they will in time come to investigate on their own. Reinforce this behavior until they learned to come every time, and once this has been established you may begin to train other behaviors using different tunes.

Care should be taken to avoid frantic tunes, particularly sequences of short, quick notes, as these may in some cases resemble the cries of a prey animal and trigger a predatory lust in a Gwythaint; particularly those coming into training during or after maturity. Gwythaints trained from a young age, and especially those who have been imprinted upon hatching, are less susceptible to these sorts of associations and impulses, especially those who have not had to rely heavily on hunting for themselves. That said, it is best not to temp the nature of these beasts too brazenly; hunger breeds poor circumstances for learning a Gwythaint’s temperament.

In regards to training and positive reinforcement of behavior, it must be stressed again to avoid using food as a reward for juveniles at all costs. Verbal praise and the appropriate physical contact, as outlined on page thirty-four, should suffice at these young ages. For mature Gwythaint, or those who have properly been broken into self-reliance for resources, food will work suitably as a reward. As with the other behavioral training methods, the trainer should consistently increase the amount of successful calls between food rewards until the beast has learned to come without the expectation of a treat.

In addition, Gwythaint who have already learned your commands may help to teach younger beasts the correct behavior; though be aware that only particularly brash youths will attempt to teach elder Gwythaint and then to very little effect.

In my youth, there were legends of one who learned to live among the wild Gwythaint. It was said that he had learned to play a flute, and through the power of song was able to compel entire packs of them to do as he pleased. This legend has long been considered to be purely fictional, however I find that it may not be so far-fetched. A flute is an excellent way to communicate clearly with a Gwythaint precisely at longer distances, and it is quite possible that with dedicated training one may be able to relay complex commands to a Gwythaint - or several - by using one. Though, it must be said, I have my doubts as to the beauty of the so-called music produced.’

----

Sam recalled Bedivere’s piercing whistle when he called for Eirian. Without fail, Eirian would heed his command, swooping down from the sky and landing majestically before them. It was hard to imagine Avan doing anything like that. The rascal followed her and Lupe around everywhere and he was particularly destructive around Sam. She wasn’t exactly the most shining example for him. Ever since he’d hatched, she hadn’t really known what to do with him. Feed him, sure, but proper training? Maybe it was about time she started putting Bedivere’s tips to good use.

She rested the journal against her chest and pressed a few buttons on her mechanical arm. The small screen in its center lit up with a thin green line. “Hey, um, Lupe,” she said. “You there?”

Lingering silence. Sam pursed her lips. She’d avoided directly calling on Lupe ever since the link in her arm had been installed. It was a great tool for missions, but she hadn’t been sure how he felt about being at her beck and call. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about it either, even if she would have liked some company the past couple days. Right now though, taking advantage of their down time to train Avan seemed worth the call.

The green line on the screen warbled and Lupe’s voice came through. “Hey Sam! What’s up?”

She smiled, hearing the grin in his voice. Maybe he was just as bored out of his mind as she was. “Think you’re up for helping me train Avan? I’ve been studying Bedivere’s notes and could use the help.”

“Heck yeah I would!” he replied quickly, already sounding like he was on the move. Sam could hear his keys jingling through the speaker. “Is he with you?”

“I…” she paused, sitting up. The journal fell to her lap. “I kinda thought he was with you.”

“Ah.” Lupe stopped walking, chuckling. “Uh, well, probably wanna find him. There’s this corner in the dining room he likes. That room across the foyer?”

“Yeah, I know the one.” She got up and made her way inside.

“Where’re you at, by the way?” Lupe asked.

“Mansion garden,” she told him, shutting the back door behind her. “Do you know who made that unicorn statue?”

Lupe laughed. “The fountain? Isn’t it like the one in the real Twilight Town?”

“I wouldn’t know. The real one’s destroyed,” she replied. “Why a unicorn?”

“Pretty sure there’s unicorn symbols all over the mansion,” Lupe mused and there was something about the way he said it that Sam took note of. A sort of nostalgic tone in his voice. She wondered what it meant, if it meant anything at all.

“I seriously haven’t noticed,” she replied eventually, pushing open the door to the grand dining hall.

The dining hall in the real mansion was destroyed. DiZ sometimes liked to go in there for a change of scenery, but it was the dustiest room in the house. The table was crushed in two by the chandelier falling loose from the ceiling. Broken shards of glass and wood covered the floor and the wallpaper was peeling off. As Sam opened the door, she realized the dining hall she was used to was the complete opposite to the one in this digital realm. The floor was marbled and polished, the chandelier intact and shimmering. The table was the centerpiece of the room, long, pronounced, with a vase of sunflowers settled in the center.

“Wow…” Sam breathed out, entering the room entirely.

Lupe chuckled. “You’ve never seen it, huh?”

“Not like this,” she replied, looking at the painted portraits hung along the walls. “I wonder who all these people are…?”

“Maybe Hina knows,” Lupe suggested and Sam hummed.

“So um, where’s this hiding spot?” she asked.

“Right!” Lupe said. “See that fancy lookin couch in the back of the room? Avan likes to hide under that. He’s a scavenger, too, so he’s sort of made a bed for himself down there and it can be hard getting him out.”

“You can’t just move the couch off of him?” Sam asked.

Lupe laughed. “I mean, I guess if we lifted it together, we could theoretically do that. Chirithy usually tries to lure him out with some chicken.”

“Ah yeah, well according to the journal, we can’t be doing that anymore,” Sam explained. She knelt down at the couch and peeked under it, indeed seeing the amalgamation of clutter pushed into the shape of a burrow. The tip of Avan’s nose peeked out from the nest and upon seeing Sam, he turned away. With a huff of breath, Sam sat back. “He said it spoils them and there’s been stories of adult Gwythaints eating their owners eventually if they aren’t fed on demand like they’re used to growing up. So… we probably wanna stop doing that.”

“Huh…” Lupe seemed like he didn’t know how to reply to that.

“Yeah, I was literally handed the egg of a stupidly dangerous creature and told, good luck,” Sam told him with a sigh. “And now I have to worry about being eventually eaten by this thing.” Avan growled at the insinuation. “Oh stop, you wanna prove me wrong come out of your hideout and listen to me.”

Lupe snorted out a laugh. “Ok, I’m almost there.”

The door to the dining room swung open and the call cut out. Sam waved him over and he joined her in sitting beside the couch.

Leaning back on his palms, he asked, “Well, alright, since you’ve been studying, how do you think we should do this?”

“I’m still not against just moving the whole couch.” Sam motioned her arms and Lupe snickered with a shrug. “But the last entry I read said to use whistles to get them to listen. Here.” She pulled out the journal from her pocket and showed him the page.

“A unique and consistent whistle, huh?” Lupe nibbled on his lip piercing, thinking about it. “It mentioned a flute. Something like that would probably work. Maybe even a dog whistle.”

“I wouldn’t be able to hear that though,” Sam mused along with him. “I think I’d rather use something both me and Avan could hear. A flute isn’t a bad call, but it wouldn’t be easy to carry around.”

“Well, there is an advantage to not being able to hear the whistle,” he pointed out. “The bad guys wouldn’t be able to hear it either.”

Sam shrugged and scratched her cheek. “I mean, yeah, but I don’t think them hearing a whistle is going to make them expect a dragon to suddenly show up and eat them.”

Lupe snorted. “Guess that’s true. Well whatever you wanna go with should work.” He reread the journal entry. “This guy’s handwriting is really good.”

Sam scoffed out a sudden laugh. “I bet you’d get a kick out of meeting him. He’s interesting.” She rested her back against the couch, pulling one of her legs up to her chest and resting her mechanical arm against it. “You know, there’s these cyborgs back in my galaxy. They can change their hands or whatever they have that’s made of metal, and make different tools and shit. Maybe I could do that with one of my fingers.”

“Make it a whistle?” he clarified and when Sam nodded he smirked. “Now that would be cool! And it’d work well on missions. It’s quick and right there, so you aren’t trying to rummage through a bag or something if you need Avan right away. You think you’d be able to do that?”

“I have some ideas,” she said, turning her hand over. “Doesn’t really help right now though. Guess I didn’t really think it through before I called.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” he waved it off, turning to lean his back against the couch too. “This beats lazing around the apartment.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “You seemed pretty happy when you answered the call.”

“I was pretty bored,” he admitted and their conversation fell to a comfortable lull. Then he asked, “So, what got you reading Bedivere’s journal anyway?”

“Boredom, mostly,” she answered quickly with a shrug. It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t a complete lie either.

“Makes sense,” he replied with a soft laugh. “With how much you’ve locked yourself in your workshop, I’d have thought you had a ton of projects to work on.”

He was prying. Or it seemed like it, anyway. Whether he was trying to be subtle about it or not wasn’t clear to her, but either way it didn’t really matter. She frowned, watching the way the chandelier’s crystals reflected light against the walls. He was the only one that really knew what happened when the Unmade bird grabbed her, it made sense he’d want to make sure she was alright.

“I don’t want to work on them right now,” she said with a quiet voice. “It’s…” She took a breath, exhaling with a laugh. “It’s dumb.”

“Well, I’m always up for dumb,” he told her and Sam snorted.

“I’m sure.” She fondly rolled her eyes, shaking her head as Lupe snickered.

“But seriously, I’m here.” He placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her a squeeze.

She half-smiled, patting her hand over his. “Thanks.”

He smiled back, then his gaze darted past her and his expression lightened into a grin. “Look who decided to join us.”

Sam looked over and saw Avan poking out his head from under the couch. He poked his snout against Sam’s hand, demanding scritches. With a scoff, she complied, getting a chirping pur in response from the little critter.

“You know, there’s a music shop in Sunset Terrace,” Lupe told them. “Maybe we can find some sort of whistle there to use for now.”

Scooping up Avan in her arms, she asked him. “What do you think? Up for an outing in town?”

Avan slithered to be up on his hind legs, his face level with Sam’s, and he bit her nose.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts fanfic #TheForgottenTraveler #Original Character

2 notes · View notes