Aquila

It was dark. Nero didn't know where He was, all he recalled was a rocky boom, like an avalanche or something, rocks kept falling on him, hitting him in the back as He lay face down in a pile of jagged rocks "Ow..." He groaned.

"Love!? Love, where are you!?" Fiore's voice echoed, her worry bouncing off of the walls of the darkness. "Griff-Griff!?"

"I'm here Fiore." Griffin's voice said shakily, the sounds of bodies moving and rocks toppling around smacking against Nero's ringing ears. "Ugh, that didn't feel good. are you alright?" Griff asked

Light footsteps bounced from every direction of what Nero decided was probably some kind of cave. "Yes! Fiore is great, Fiore is Fantastic, her heart is beating like a drum, wooooooo oh sovereign I can't find Nero!? Where is Nero!?"

"Hey.... Hey! You're riding on a Leeched High, you need to calm down and help me find, him alright?" Griff said in a breathy tone like she was exhausted.

"Okay! Okay! Fiore can do that, Fiore can Breathe very fast, very very very fast, look!-ah!" The sound of a slap echoed next.

"There, better?" Griff asked.

"Yes... Sorry, Griff-Griff. Fiore is just feeling, energetic." Fiore apologised.

"Well energetically look for Nero, If he was crushed in this cave-in then.... just come on."

Fiore and Griff shuffled through the rocks, calling for him, not that He could exactly respond with his head spinning, made even worse as He felt hands sudden clutch him, pulling him out of the rock womb that he was buried in.

"There we are tough-guy. Red god, he's banged up pretty bad."

Nero's vision warped as the two figures dusted him off in the darkness. His eyes twisted and turned, unable to focus or capture proper images, unable to process anything.

"What's happening to him?" Fiore's voice asked in worry.

Hands touched him, opened his eyes and feeling at his spasming and cramping muscles "I'm no doctor but I've seen something like this before, it appears to be some kind of seizure... except it's getting worse."

"He needs The blood of the Warrior, He needs Shaman Ghila!"

Griff scoffed "He needs medical attention, something isn't right with his mind, Fiore, You don't understand he's not from here, he was taken away from his home, dragged here somehow-"

"He is the Son of the Sky-Sovereign, a Wolf that Mounts the world.... and My Love. and Fiore will not let this curse harm him any longer." Arms hoisted his subtly writhing form, and Griff sighed.

"Do you even know where we are? the ground just collapsed under us!? what is this, some kind of cave or something?"

They began to move in the darkness, carefully stepping around the rocks and making him wiggle around inanimately.

"Chief Ulsa would speak of the scary passages that the Old Litchen would use to get to Yrden when they would worship the Great tree whose sap is the Blood of our Sovereign: the Warrior. But Litch-folk is not meant to be near divinity, cursed are the one's who reside near it, this is why Yrden is long forbidden, why Litch-folk stays away and pray from Fallgrim Home instead...." Adele said, her dark skin and curly hair swaying... No... no that wasn't right, Fiore said that. It was hard to stay present like his mind wasn't here but a world away, and if it was Hours, or Minutes until they stopped. But he was proppedd up against a rock, Griffin's cloak covering him to keep him warm and comfortable.

A small fire was going and two feminine shapes spoke in shadows, One touched the other's bottom arm, her horns curved and shining "How does it feel, being one of us?" Kira Asked, her strawberry blonde hair shining.

"It's... strange, and it hurt! But after Fiore used it, to save Mama... She felt.... so strong! She still feels so strong!!!" Adelle said, her voice confident and surprised.

Kira smiled with her red face "The power of the Leech is to steal the vitality of another, it is a dangerous and very rare gift, but a gift all the same. You must use it with caution."

Adelle fiddled all four of her hands... she fiddled... she... "Fiore will try her best. As long as She has her love and Griff-Griff friend, Fiore can ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING!!"

Griffin... yes that was Griffin, definitely Griffin. Griffin chuckled, it sounded wrong, distorted like two coconuts knocking together as she knocked Fiore in her shoulder "Alright, easy there, Lady Mysteria. We won't accomplish a thing if we starve to **** in these caves. Curses, the Sphinka must have run off, they weren't in the rubble, we need to find them or we'll not get 3 miles through the red sea on foot."

"The World Tree, Griff-Griff, natural life is drawn there, the Sphinka will be there and the Sap will fix, Nero!"

Griffin narrowed her eyes "We do not have time for silly superstition, Lady Fiore, He needs real-"

"Trust, Fiore, Griff-Griff... Trust her... please?"

Griff studied Fiore's eyes, before sighing in defeat "we can't stumble around here blind and exhausted. Get some rest, I will... try and fix Nero the best I can."

His eyes closed because they were too heavy to keep open, though he did feel himself being moved, shifted in not four arms, but just two, gently placing him on the ground, where a hard forehead touched his own, and careful fingers intertwined with his "I know you're tired, I'm sorry... I... I tried to protect you, but I failed, wasted all of the power you gave me... I'll fix this, I'll fix you, I swear it." Griffin whispered.

Nero **** his eyes open and looked at her lazily, her face vibrated in his vision only for a moment before her cherry-red face fell slowly into focus, her beauty anchoring him for a moment back into reality "You didn't fail me, I've never seen anybody more amazing then what you did up there... You're remarkable."

Griff's dark blue eyes were soft, illuminated in the low-light of the crackling fire behind her. "Your Lover, on Gaia, Kira... do you miss her?" She whispered.

He sighed, barely able to think "Even if I was right enough in my mind to answer that... it's a secret." He grinned twitchily as she chuckled.

"The Great and Mighty Warwolf won't share his secrets with me?" She asked coyly.

"Maybe, if the Great and Mighty Griffin of Blades shared some of hers from time to time then I'd think about it." He shot back. Griffin's eyes broke away from him, she had been pushing life into him, so carefully, so lowly and subtly that He barely noticed, pushing her energy into his, both revitalizing him and spurring the chaos in him further. He felt a little bad "No, I don't really miss her... it was a stupid crush, the shallow hopes of a lonely guy, everything here dwarfs any of my worries back home. I have other things to-ugh..." He clutched his head, pushing the writhing conflict away "-I have good things here, real things... real people in my life."

She flashed a beautiful white smile as he closed his eyes, unable to hold himself stable any longer.

Lips brushed his ear, a voice speaking clearly, gently, softly "My Biggest, most important secret... Aquila. My name is Aquila..."

"Aquila." He muttered, the name like a light in the darkness, soothing him as He swept off into an unsteady sleep.