The excitement that coursed through me died as son I was met with nothing but solomn, tear-stained faces.
Sprig was the first to rush towards me, wrapping her arms around my head I lowered for her, sobbing loudly.
Mum and Dad walked out from the home behind her, thier arms wrapped around each other and thier faces trying to be brave.
I lifted my head from Sprig to see no traces of the officials left. As quickly as they had come, they had gone.
The threat was over. I could return home.
My heart soared at the realization, until I opened my beak to babble my discovery to Sprig and saw her clutching her chest.
Behind her hands was a black halo where her spirit light should have been.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLdsdP6wJg
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Dread dropped in ym stomach when I saw how distraught it made her.126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyz49nT2wCN
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She wouldn't have been able to see it, but I was sure she could feel something was not right.
What had happened to my soul? Black was bad, right?
What did my teacher say in that stupid song as a kid?126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HZ2abINkv
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Black was never coming back? Or was it black meant she'd been attacked?
Why was it shaped like that? Soul lights were like orbs, not hollow halo's.
Was this because I had mutated into this death bird?
I couldn't think. Things weren't supposed to go like this. I was here to make things better; we were going to be a family again.
"Sprig" I whispered, nudging her hands to try and get her to move them from her chest "say something."
She sniffled and only pushed my head away when I licked her streaming cheek.
There was no laughter, or even an attempt at a smile.
She couldn't even look up at me. Her eyes remained on the ground while she heaved out her sobs.
"I'm back" I pressed, nudging my head under her hand to try and force her to acknowledge me "it's OK, I'm here now."
This only made it worse. She whined and covered her eyes now, shaking her head while trying to force out words that failed her.
"Oh" i gasped when it dawned on me "it's about the ear thing, right? That's OK, I'm not mad at you for that. You only did what they made you do."
"Teddy" Dad spoke now "how about we sit down? We.... We have something to talk about."
Mum nodded, holding her hand over her mouth now.
They were all so sad. It made my heart break and thier sorrow fill my eyes when I saw how much they were hurting.
I followed them to Lavender's party area where the logs were. Everyone took a seat on them while I sat in the grass opposite them, waiting.
None of them looked hurt. The officials hadn't physically harmed them, which relieved me.
But whatever they had said was haunting them. I'd never seen any of them cry like this before.
It felt like I was responsible.
"Teddy, um...." Mum began "t-the people that were here had a.... had a talk with us..."
She couldn't even finish her sentence. I looked between everyone with rising concern for what had happened while I was gone.
"And?" I breathed.
"Well, it was about you and Sprig" Dad finished for her "how you two are bound through your..."
He waved a finger to my chest that I looked down at to see Sprig's light within me still shining bright.
It was a relief to not see that the black hole had consumed it too. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWLBGbYOO7
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It was still safe within me, like it should be.
How long had the hole of my soul been like that inside Sprig?
"There is a way to break a bond."
"WHAT?!"
I backed up immediently and saw the reaction it caused in everyone who tried to hide more sobs from my panic.
"H-HOW?!" I paced now "WHY?!"
I didn't care that they couldn't understand me. I just needed answers to the absurd reality facing me.
They had taken my soul. It had been stolen straight from Sprig.
No. We had given them to each other out of love. I had worked so hard just to convince myself that I could carry such an important thing as a soul. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3m02YnCWl
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River had been there to help me catch the wild thing that I danced with in those flowers.
It was more than just a soul, it was a memory.
Could someone just steal it away so coldly like that? It didn't even have any significance to them like it did for me.
"T-they put it in a jar of black stuff" Dad spoke softly. Holding his hand out when I froze to glare at his words "now, Teddy; you have to understand that we didn't want it at all."
"They just took it" Mum whimpered "you don't belong to us anymore. You've been labelled as a wild demon."
"A.... wild demon" I whispered "but I'm not. I'm yours."
"I know it's scary, but there's nothing we can do" Mum sobbed when I approached them and nudged her outstretched hand that rubbed my forehead "we can't get it back."
"I belong with you. I'm not going anywhere."
"I tried to bring you back too" Sprig finally sniffled "b-but it didn't work."
She placed her hands together and lowered her head, breaking the sign brifely to wipe her eyes.
"Teddy" she grunted with focus.
Nothing happened. I didn't feel anything that would have been calling me to return to her. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgR3ZcCYbKj
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I had seen Darcy do the same thing to River; he had been summoned with the blood that tied them together.
"Teddy" Lavender tried again "Teddy, Teddy, Teddy."
I could see she was determined on trying to make it work. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KUdjO2bxm
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But the bond was broken, and so was my whole reason to be with my family.
If I wasn't Lavender's demon, then who was I?
"We...." Mum began slowly, hesitant on continuing "we believe you should live your life, now that you aren't connected to us."
Lavender sobbed again. She didn't try to fight her parents' words because she already knew what they were going to suggest.
They probably had already talked about thier options beforehand.
"You don't need to follow us around anymore" Dad added with a little smile to try and lighten the mood "you can do whatever you want now; anything you ever wanted to now. They won't come looking for you if you leave us."
"But, I belong here, with you" I bit back "I'm not just going because you want me to. There's nothing I want to do without you, honestly."
"But I want him to stay" Lavender begged "I don't want him to go."
"He has his own life" Dad rubbed her arm as he held her close "we can't force him into anything."
"I'm staying" I repeated more firmly, sitting down promptly "I'm not going anywhere."
Lavender smiled at my defiance and looked to her parents.
"I told you he wouldn't."
I set my stern face on Mum and Dad who only giggled and wiped thier eyes.
"Well, he can help with packing then."
Packing?
"We don't want those people to keep coming back, now that they have our address" Mum explained to my confusion "the know you two were bound; they are going to keep checking that you haven't come back here."
So.... running away? 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBYrmy9s9z
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It didn't sound like something Mum or Dad usually would do, but I could understand why simply leaving was the most easiest and safest option.
Moving again....
We hadn't moved since we were only kids from the home Lavender and I had grown up in together.
She was much older now and understood the reasons why more clearly. She wouldn't fight them on it since I was going to be following her every step of the way from above.
No-one would find us. We could start fresh while I waited for these mutations to dissappear. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeU76S5fPW
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And when they did, it was going to be like I had vanished completely.
I liked the sound of a fresh start. The thrill of trying to dodge danger was exciting.
"Oh" I gasped, when everyone moved from the logs to head inside now that we were all on the same page "Sprig. You wouldn't guess what I saw!"
"I think he's talking to you" Dad chuckled.
Lavender stopped in her tracks and turned to me with a smile.
"Demons can have children!" I blurted out excitedly "I saw it myself! It's not like what we thought! There were three of them, Sprig! Three!"
"Do you think he's excited for the move?" Mum whispered loudly and giggled at me.
"Look" I sighed to Sprig who laughed along with them "I get you can't understand me, but I'm trying to tell you that we can have that dream. We can start fresh and work on being parents. I.... I want to give that a go when I'm clean again."
I placed my head on her middle and felt her fingers play with the feathers there. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHaFllJqiF
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I crooned as I savored the feeling of her gentleness dancing through my body that trembled for her.
"You are going to be a great mother" I whispered up to her, snuggling deeper to make her stumble back from my strength "I can't wait."
"Teddy" Sprig chuckled "ease up."
I had to make her understand somehow. To let them see that I was ready for this to happen. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8DMjp8rdV
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I had been unsure earlier, but after seeing those children and feeling how much care Lavender was still giving me in this horrifying form, I was ready to take the next scary dive in our relationship.
I wanted to be a father with her. I wanted to protect her and feel the life we had created together growing inside her. We could raise our children away from all the nastiness of the world now that we had this chance.
But I had to make her see.
Maybe, if I took her there?
But Mum and Dad never allowed Sprig to sit on my back or even have a chance at flight with me. They were worried, and understandably so. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJCuUgPteu
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Having her on me could be disastrous if I took a turn slightly too sharp, or moved unexpectedly so high up in the air.
I'd have to bring back proof.
"I love you" I murmered into her body before lifting my head upwards "don't worry, I'll be back."
I saw the fear and worry in her eyes when I started to run from her to get enough speed to climb back into the sky.
I looped back, just to reassure her I wasn't abandoning them, then sped for the sky with a triumphant screech.
The path back to that cliffside was becoming clearer now that I had retraced it again from home.
I overshot the forestry, like I did the first time, and did the same loop back to the safety of the trees that I rushed between to hunt down that clearing again.
Now that it was later in the afternoon, most of the people were gone. Only a few remained in the grass that the little demon played in with the battered male demon.
It was going to be tough to try and find my proof without the advantages I had as a normal demon.
I couldn't snap a picture on my phone with claws so big and clumsy, and most certaintly couldn't try and lead the mother and her children back home either; the children still looked featherless and wouldn't make such a journey even if they were willing.
I couldn't just bring back the dropped feathers or bones either since they could have come from anything. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaFakBtuqo
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They weren't specific enough to get my message across.
What about the little demon child?
I watched her laughing and teasing her father who pretended to battle her around thier audience.
She could understand me and the humans around her. Maybe I could convince her to come with me and she could translate?
I didn't know how easy that would be, but I already knew she was aware of my presence that intrigued he enough to approach me the first time.
I pulled my gaze from her and her father to focus it on the mother sleeping with her head tucked into her nest.
There was also the option of trying to take one of the tiny children for physical proof. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVIvnmYX4C
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With them so small, they wouldn't know what was happening if I was quick enough. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU61hoyPXLj
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I could have them there and back again before anyone noticed one was missing.
It could work. It was going to be a lot riskier than trying to convince a child who could be influenced into decisions I wanted.
Jeez, why did it always have to be so hard?
I stayed at the edge of those trees, just observing and making notes of what was my more viable option.
When it darkened and the people left, I did too; wandering back to the cliffside to stare up at the clear night sky.
I hadn't turned to the spirits for guidance on a topic as heavy as this.
The last time I had, was when I was still a child with little problems that could never compare.
Would they hear me after all this time? Did they even want to listen?
"Uh, hello, spirits" I began quietly, unsure of how to place my words to something that always remained quiet "it's been a while. A few years, in fact."
I heard the crashing of the back waves below and felt the soft spray being lifted upwards.
"I'm not sure what to do" I admitted to the dancing lights "with all of this, I mean. You've probably seen it all. Nothing has really worked out for.... for a while actually."
The gentle breeze was cold on my face, biting around my beak and exposed neck I pointed upwards.
"What should I do? I don't know how to make them understand me. I have two options, but both of them are wrong. I'm running out of time here. My whole family is going away, and I feel like I'm just being stubborn to try and stay with them."
Honestly, it didn't feel like I was welcome after the implication that I should chase life rather than join them. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwoRcCvAcJA
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Maybe it was more than that and was actually an order?
Sprig had lost my soul. I had been turned out to be nothing more than a wild beast now. I had no purpose with them or without them.
I was only staying because I wanted things to be the way they were before things got complicated and messy.
"I'm lost" I sniffled to the spirits "I need some sort of answer; a sign that I'm on the right track or something."
Silence was painful. It stung more than soft words tickling my ears would have.
"ANSWER ME!" I shouted over the waves in frustration "I NEED YOU, AND YOU ALWAYS DO NOTHING!"
"The spirits are cold things."
I turned my head to see the child demon poking her head around one of the trees only a few meters away from me.
She slowly advanced when I didn't move, watching me drop my head in shame at being caught losing my temper so easily.
"Do they ever talk back?" the demon asked while she sat down on the ground beside me "they are always so.... quiet."
I snorted at her observation and looked up at them anyway.
"Do you talk to the spirits too?"
I saw her swinging her legs over the edge of the cliff that was intent on trying to soak her battered shoes that were held together with thick layers of silver duct tape. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWYt4fKr9S
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She picked at her nails, flicking the dirt from under them as she thought.
"I talk to them when I'm hungry, mostly" she shrugged "if I distract myself, it doesn't hurt too bad."
I had seen the morsels the parents had been feeding the tiny children in the nest. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzFVHSa0DB
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The children are first, then this demon child, then themselves. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZyI43MoKgC
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Most of the time the parents went without. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0ZufYZOpu
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There wasn't enough to go around.
Just this afternoon, both parents only caught another small dog and a rabbit. It wasn't enough to even feed this child who scrounged for food from the humans who thought her antics were entertaining.
Just the talk of food was making me aware of the knot in my own stomach. I hadn't eaten a decent meal for a few days now. 126Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBo1MRDSVE
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The pain was stating to catch up to me.
"My Mum and Dad make the best stews" I reminisced "one time, Mum added a little too much salt and the whole thing was like... drinking the ocean water!"
I saw the child look over the edge and giggle.
"Ages ago, my partner used to eat sunflowers" I smiled at the spirits "the whole head! I used to pick them with him too before this happened."
"Before the dead birds got you too?" she spoke softly, but with awe "I heard that when you die, your body is fed to them so that they can carry it into the sky. Hundreds of dead birds take the physical parts of you, and fly them so high up that they can join the spirits up there."
That was a more enlightening way of looking at it all, rather than torturing my mind with the screams of the greedy birds tearing at the flesh and bones while flies bred between the layers of skin.
"Well, you aren't wrong" I admitted, making her gasp.
"Really? I heard that so long ago that I was starting to think it was just another lie. Can the dead birds really go that high? Way up there?"
"It's pretty high, the sky" I smiled at it "I don't even know when it ends. I'm a little worried to even try flying that high."
The demon child smirked at me then leant back smugly.
"I'm not scared of anything. If I had wings, I'd go all the way up to the biggest spirit in the sky" she boasted.
"Would you now?"
"I'd beat all those dead birds, easy."
I giggled at her inflated ego. She pouted at me before using her foot to shove the side of my hand roughly.
I saw her cheeky grin and spark of mischeviousness in her eyes that had me grinning back.
"Aren't your mum and dad going to be wondering where you are?" I tilted my head back at the trees behind us "seems a bit silly to be hanging around a demon you don't even know."
She peered back at the trees but didn't budge.
"Hmmm, well, I know a demon who screams at silent spirits to answer him can't be anything bad, now can it? Comes across very.... desperate."
I gasped at her words and saw that smile reappear as she got to her feet and brushed off her longs.
She was a troublesome little thing that spoke with knowledge way beyond her years.
She reminded me of a young Lavender, and how cheeky she had been in that flower field with me; ripping her school clothes and sneaking kisses under the verandah.
"You got me" I chuckled, getting up with her so she didn't have to walk back through the forestry alone "you... didn't hear most of that, did you?"
She turned to face me while still walking backwards to the clearing.
"Only the part about you being lost, and your family going away."
Relief washed through me.
"Oh, and when nothing works out for you."
The relief was gone in an instant. She had heard the whole thing.
The demon turned back around to skip towards the clearing. She hummed and ran her hands over the trunks to her right as she did to keep track of her surroundings.
She danced outside the forestry line while I lingered within it. I could see the glowing eyes of the father in the nest watching me, unblinking, behind his daughter who stopped only a few paces head.
"What's you're name, dead bird?" she asked, not paying attention to my nervousness focusing on the eyes boring into me from the other side of the clearing.
It was intense the way he watched me. It was as if I was going to find myself under his claws or jagged beak if I so much as moved another muscle towards the little demon waiting there.
Carefully, I lowered my eyes to girl waiting for my answer.
"Teddy. Teddy Bear."
"Like the toy?" she replied with a crinkled nose, thinking "Odd, very odd."
"How about you then?" I threw back the critisism with a scoff "what are you called?"
"If you so happen to know, it's Etzel" she folded her arms and acted like it didn't bother her "but everyone calls me Pretzel here."
"Pretzel?" I laughed out "and you made fun of Teddy!"
She huffed and stomped her foot on the ground.
"It's a very cute name! Everyone loves it!" she boiled through narrowed eyes.
I shook my head at her tantrum and watched her stomp away.
She was just like Lavender had been. So dramatic for nothing.
"Goodnight, Etzel!" I teased.
"It's Pretzel!" she shouted back with a wave of her finger at me "don't make me get my Papa on you! He's still awake, you know!"
The playful threat was too close and real to be taken lightly. I decided to retreat to a place more comfortable while I still could, wedging myself amongst the trees at the edge to form my protection for the night.
Flying back now would be hopeless. I would be blind in this darkness and in a surroundings I was still growing used to.
Being right here was best. I could keep my eye out for the other two demons and thier little child who was already set on making herself known to me.
I had a name for a face now. She was slowly wedging herself into the pain inside me to make it more bearable through her antics.
It was the disasterous distraction I needed right now.
I felt the smile on my face when I laid it down into the grass tickling at my feathers.
Perhaps the spirits had heard me after all.
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