Level_5

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Ah, cool! As long as I can sneak off to use Google Translate, practice whenever you want!

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

(( I used Google translate, so I'm not sure if it translated accurately, but if it did, thank you for the praise, my gosh! And don't worry about short posts or being tired; all is well! You are wonderful as well. ))

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

With his brother again so recalcitrant, Augustine turned toward Asbel with a pleading frown, and the phoenix spoke with an apologetic glance at Frey: "There was nothing in the tent. I don't know what hurt him. I only heard him sc-screaming, and when I followed him down the hill, I found he'd fallen in. So I... pulled him out."

He said nothing, of course, of the blood or the unbelievable state of panic Frey had woken in. But even with such a halfhearted explanation as that, Augustine visibly relaxed and managed a shadow of a grateful smile. "You saved his life tonight. Thank you." Such sincerity alone was enough to make Asbel flush despite the rain, but the general shrugged off his coat and tucked it across the phoenix's bare chest as a temporary blanket. "Of all of us, you are the most ill-dressed to be outside," the eldest prince admitted with a grimace of apology. "Stay warm and dry -- and rest if you can."

Cassius's arms tightened again around the phoenix as the quartet headed back to their abandoned camp. Augustine walked with his hand on Frey's shoulder whether the younger prince liked it or not, and Cassius fell in step behind them. Asbel passed the time by shivering and studying the back of one brother then the other. Broad and square-shouldered -- smaller and defensive. And while Asbel still could not fathom how two such different men could be related, he no longer found quite the distaste for Frey he'd held before. After the vomiting of blood and the screaming and the panic and the quiet moments on the bank of the stream, Asbel could no longer assume Frey was so one-dimensional as to embody nothing but hatred and vanity. Frey was frightened by more than the dark, and judging from the bite on his stomach, he had goo reason to be afraid.

And... and Frey thought no one cared about him, but three people had gone blundering through the dark to rescue him from gods-knew what. Despite all the hell the prince put Augustine through, the man still loved him. Why was Frey so endlessly cruel in pushing him away? If someone cared about Asbel that much, he certainly wouldn't spend every waking moment trying to keep them at arm's length.

Between the steady gait of the dragon and the shield of the prince's coat against the rain, Asbel could not keep his eyes open. He fell asleep before they were halfway back to the tents. As he slept, he began to burn, though the heat was not enough to bother Cassius's calloused hands. His cuts and scrapes from his run through the forest began to steam gently in the rain, and -- slowly, as the phoenix shifted in his sleep -- the myriad scratches closed and faded. He was, however, not so lucky as Frey, and the cuts shrank to thin white scars that would vanish only after a week or so.

By the time the four of them reached the camp again, Augustine knew better than to wake Asbel from the heart of his healing process, and steered his brother gently toward the tent the young prince had inhabited for half the night. Cassius had already settled his charge within. "We need to stay in place here until Asbel wakes up. Get dressed in dry clothes and get something to eat. Cassius and I will take apart the other tent and get ready to travel. If anything attacks you, I'll come as fast as I can." He placed the healing vial in Frey's hands. "And keep this with you just in case."

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

We'll see, lol. I just want my team to live through the end and we'll go from there, ahhhhh.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Augustine's expression sobered at the sight of the wound, and he brushed a hand across the injury to be sure of its scope and shape. "What bit you?" he asked, already retrieving a vial from his coat. He'd been on watch, thankfully, and he knew better than to venture anywhere unprepared. He tipped a handful of drops of the golden contents onto Frey's stomach, and with minor smoking, the skin closed and all that remained was the smear of fresh blood.

Asbel, still tucked into Cassius's arms, tensed at the sight of the injury. When had the prince been bitten? In the tent? By what? There was nothing there that would have harmed the young man. Unless he'd been bitten in the stream after he fell in, there had really been no chance for Frey to be hurt.

Though the cause escaped him, the healing process did not: the phoenix could not mistake the work of his own feathers. How odd -- to see some part of his body do such good so quickly. No wonder the alchemists were always ravenous for more of his feathers. He squirmed in Cassius's arms, eager to be set down so he could walk of his own power (he would not be a burden or a tool still), but the dragon's grasp only tightened around him.

"There was nothing in our tent," he supplied then, in case Augustine thought anything sneaking into camp was his fault. "I was awake, too, and there was nothing in the tent with us."

Augustine nodded, though his eyes did not leave his brother. "We can sort this out when we're back at camp." He half-rose, arms extended to help his younger brother up as well. "Can you stand? Can you walk?"

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

I know how that feels, gosh. If I can finally finish Mass Effect 3, it will be a good summer.

And yeah, we can exchange emails. I will reply to your message and then send you a PM. :)

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Yessss, I would agree. Frey can be a sweetheart when he's not trying to scare the living daylights out of people, lol.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Attacked? A frown of confusion crossed Asbel's mouth and forehead. Attacked by what? Some demon in a dream? There had been nothing in the tent, nothing chasing the prince. The cuts on the prince's body came from the forest, not from any storm-born monster.

But there would be time for other questions later. For now, the phoenix tried not to remain so tense in Frey's embrace, though the prince's arms felt more and more like bands of steel the longer they sat together. So much sincerity was difficult enough to understand, but the earnest contact was stranger still. Frey was not honest, nor was he affectionate, and Asbel did not return the embrace, even if that would have warmed them further.

And as the prince spoke again, the phoenix averted his gaze, kept his eyes on his hands folded in his lap. "You were afraid," he replied, speaking just as slowly, just as softly. "Anyone would have followed you."

"Frey!" The shout cut through the rattle of rain around them, and Asbel glanced up in time to see Augustine careen out of the darkness and drop to his knees beside them. The elder prince pulled his brother into his arms and held him tight against his chest, and Asbel found himself awkwardly caught in this new embrace as if he, too, were part of the mismatched family.

"What happened? Brother, what happened?" The hug broke, but the general seemed loathe to let go, and he touched Frey's face, checked his cuts for depth and damage, smoothed back the soaked hair from his forehead. He didn't seem to care that the two enemies were seated together, one's arms around the other. That they were alive, blessedly alive, was enough. "Are you alright? Is anything broken?"

Cassius dropped down to gently peel Asbel out of Frey's arms, and the phoenix felt so limp and exhausted after so long a scramble through the woods that he did not struggle, and he allowed himself to be picked up as if he weighed no more than a child.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Me, neither. We seem to be doing quite alright. (:

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

By the time Asbel had hauled them both to the relative safety of the muddy bank, he no longer had the energy to care about what was going on. For whatever reason, Frey had nearly killed himself, screaming the whole time, the sound scratching the surface of his mind and embedding itself there forever. For whatever reason, the prince was weeping against his shoulder, and Asbel let him, too exhausted and confused to push him away. The prince's eyes, when open, were sane -- thank goodness -- if terrified, but at least Frey had been found in more ways than one, and might be brought back to the camp in one piece. Never mind that, for the second time in as many days, there wasn't a shred of mischief or hatred in the young prince's expression. For the second time in as many days, Frey was looking at him with an expression that couldn't be deciphered.

The streak of lightning jolted the phoenix back into himself, and snapped his eyes away from a wary appraisal of Frey's person. His heart slammed into his throat, and with a whisper of surprise, he scrambled away from the lip of the pond as electricity crackled across its surface. They had nearly been killed. And if Asbel hadn't come, Frey would be dead -- either drowned or electrocuted. They might die still, out here in the cold and the damp.

Frey's arms around him, then, were a strange, welcome shelter from the bite of the rain and from the growling hatred of the thunder overhead. Frey was soaking wet and bleeding, and the front of his nightshirt was streaked with blood, but there was a stillness in the prince -- a welcome quiet after the wild panic of before. And while Frey had always represented danger and near-death (and did so still, it would seem), the arms around him seemed protective, not antagonistic, and Asbel settled cautiously into the embrace. Wariness took more than one touch to break, but for now, so tired and cold and wet, someone's closeness was a warmth much needed.

Thank you.

Asbel glanced up, surprised and suspicious, but the words ached with sincerity, and the phoenix nodded once in understanding. Anyone should have done the same, and he'd had no thought but to help, as anyone would have done, but if Frey was grateful, Asbel would not shut him down as he had before.

"What will you tell your brother?" he asked softly, as the crashing of Augustine and Cassius drew nearer, and as Augustine's voice called again for his lost little brother. But Cassius seemed to know where to go, and they had only a few minutes left before they would be found and rescued.