It felt like i was carrying around this slimy weight in my stomach when i waited for anything to come back on the hunt for that life-changing news.
It was hard to focus on anything else. My mind was running through what i would say after all this time, or what i could say.
Would they recognise me? And with this new information about River, was he the same as i remembered, or a stranger?
Had Lavender given up on me? Did she move on like i did and create a new life with someone else? With River and Darcy or without them?
I had never been so damn stressed. The peaceful seagull i balanced on my nail to help entertain me in isolation, only bobbed stupidly out here.
I still loved that carved piece of wood dearly, but i was frustrated with just being a glorified memory tied to 'Under the Spirits'.
As soon as i got angry with my gull, i felt guilty. I knew it wasn't its fault for all of this.
I just wanted quiet again to help my running thoughts and fears circle their way out of my mind. Usually it worked and i would fall asleep, but now that i was under the scrutiny of others, they weren't dying out.
My safe place was my room. It was the closest i could get to the quietness and privacy i had in isolation. My trinkets kept me company, as they always did, and helped keep me focused.
The bird was still my best friend. Even with Azalea, Emry, and Petal flitting in and out around friend's houses now, i felt like i had been through more with the gull than them. They were old friends with old memories. I had shared things with this silent gull i hadn't with another person in a very long time.
It was what kept me controlled. A little reminder of the different life i had given up.
Sometimes, i missed it. But, i missed seeing River, Darcy, and Lavender more. They were my whole reason for this.
I was balancing the gull on my claw, enjoying the silence from behind my closed door when it knocked and opened.
"Teddy Griffin" I immediately sighed back without taking my eyes off my bobbing friend.
Emry frowned and even chuckled a little.
"What?"
"Oh" i realised and snatched up the gull to divert my embarrassment as i gripped it tight "force of habit."
"Right" he shook his head and came in while i re-balanced my gull "you ok there? You haven't been out today."
He noticed the blinds i had drawn over the window to keep the room dark and how i was so focused on making my friend fly from my comfortable position wedged into the corner of the wall on the bed.
"Still no news?" I mumbled when he went over to peel the blinds back and flood the room with light.
It was too bright. The gull slipped from my nail and clattered onto the bed.
"Did you want to come for a drive into town?" Emry jerked a thumb to the door "we can go check out the water and grab something to eat. I'm not working right now and its nice out there."
"I need to be here" I mumbled back with a flashed look of apology, setting up my gull again.
If i was out, i could miss River and Darcy making their trip here again, or information on their whereabouts leading to Lavender. They would know where she was; they had been searching for her too.
"It's beautiful" Emry insisted "come on. We'll be, like, an hour at the most."
Too much time wasted. So much could happen in an hour.
I just focused on my gull and grinned at it nodding in agreement with me.
At least it was on my side.
"Teddy" Emry sighed and sat on the bed "you can't stay in here. It's not healthy for you to always be in such a dark room."
The gull bobbed and rotated, flying in the way of Emry's face that grimaced at it; making sure i only acknowledged it.
"You need fresh air. It'll do your mind and body a lot of good if you give it a chance."
I almost lost the gull when it rotated too far. I fixed it before it could fall, which made Emry grumble.
"What is your fascination with this bit of wood anyway?" he grumbled and glared at it "Teddy! Listen to me when i'm talking to you!"
His hand swiped the gull from my finger to squeeze it in his grasp. It's head poked out one side while each wing strained out between his fingers.
He was choking it!
He could take all the other trinkets, even the bear! Just not my gull!
Not her!
"Give her back to me!" i snarled and found my hand gripped around his throat instantly.
As soon as my nails dug into his skin, i realised what i was doing and jerked away. Emry grabbed my hand i cradled and forced it open so he could place the gull into it.
It sat there, suddenly heavy in my palm.
Why had i projected onto it like that? I had never thought of my friend as her, not even once.
Was that why i was so committed to keeping her flying? Because i felt like i had failed her in that?
"Want to talk about it?" Emry shuffled closer to me and glanced at my hands that cradled my gull close.
It wasn't her. It had only been a slip of the tongue.
Why was i so ashamed of how irrationally i had acted just now? I knew it was a block of wood, but i still couldn't let go of it.
It was too precious.
"Maybe some air would do some good" I mumbled then slid off the bed to put the gull back on its ledge.
Emry only quietly agreed and left. I followed but stopped at the door to peer back at the ledge.
Now that he knew the gull was so dear to me, would he try to take it to help me? I wouldn't know what i'd do if i returned to find it gone.
Maybe Petal would come home and think it was just another toy?
Would Azalea get angry at my sudden aggression to Emry and dump them in the trash to teach me a lesson?
I hurried back to quickly pull out a jacket from my suitcase and stash my friend safely in the pocket.
Just knowing it was close and i could feel it there was comforting. It didn't calm me as much as balancing it, but it would have to do.
I then rushed to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror.
As suspected, the sudden spike in wanting to protect my gull had caused the appearance of tiny thorns along my horns. I opened my mouth to run my finger along the sharpened teeth there.
Fuck.
Two weeks and i was already slipping up. I couldn't let myself fall into the darkness again after making it this far.
Emry's eyes followed my sheepish walk from the bathroom and immediately suspected the sudden need for a jacket. They lingered on the pocket i had my hand balled in for far too long. He let it slide, choosing to focus on the positive that i had left the room and was joining him on a much needed journey away from the dark room.
I saw my reaction had changed Emry too. His claws curved dangerously; serrated on the insides.
He decided to grab his own jacket from the back of the door and slip his hands inside the pockets.
"Might get cold" he mumbled with a small smile as i passed him.
I grinned back and watched him lock the door before heading up to the building to our left to hand the keys to Azalea who was pleased to see us both together, and me outside my room again.
I saw her notice my subtle changes but smiled past them when she wished us well on our trip.
"We'll grab a good file while we are out" Emry commented as we both slid into his car in the parking lot nearby "luckily, its not a big difference."
"And your throat?"
He tilted his head so i could see the broken skin where my nails had pressed in. Blood pooled under the flaps but didn't seep out.
"Foundation too, by the looks of it" he grimaced into the rear view mirror, pulling the car out to follow the road down "we don't want your good name ruined around here."
I rolled my eyes back at him and leant back into the head rest.
"Sorry."
"I've had worse" he scoffed "Deer was just like us when we were young and dumb. Gave me a good beating right across the ribs too when i tried to break him out of a fight. I thought he broke something."
"And what did you do?" I smirked back, knowing Emry wasn't the type to let confrontation slide.
"Gently reminded the kid that what he did was wrong" Emry laughed "like a good father would."
"Gently; right" i scoffed back.
"Says you" he shoved me "Mr 'i'll kick dirt in your eyes and try to kill you'. If you had that Cradle off back then, I'd be in serious trouble."
I laughed with him at our old fight. Having him boost my ego like that felt amazing, especially coming from someone like Emry.
For someone i had once wanted to crush beneath me, Emry was actually really fun to be around.
He made it easy to forget about all the stress i had been putting myself through just waiting. My hands hadn't even touched my pockets since leaving with Emry.
I felt like i was seventeen again and making friends with the sunflower workers all over again.
If we hadn't of let everything get in the way like it did, this is what we could have had from the start.
This was really nice. I was so happy i felt like i wanted to cry.
The more time i spent with Emry, the more i realised i liked him.
We grabbed hot chips and walked along the green in town to find a good place to eat them while just talking. Seagulls littered the ground when we spread out the paper and took our places on either side to guard our food from them.
It was Emry who tried to lure them closer so he could try and catch one. I showed him the same tactic i had to Lavender on the beach before my Tagging, the chip dangling from my mouth as the birds grew braver.
Emry did the same thing and actually panicked when one did swoop down to snap it up. It made me laugh at how something so silly that could scare a demon usually so brave.
He made sure that i didn't enjoy my moment for long. He pulled me down to try and force me into the chips for his own amusement. It wasn't a serious fight between us when we tumbled and crushed our food trying to prove who was supreme.
If we wanted to, we could have drawn blood or ripped limbs open. But, this was just stupid fun between competitive friends.
Emry cheered when he pressed my face into the chips that spread across my cheek and smeared up along my eye. He gloated about his glorious win, taking the time to childishly flex his muscles to prove his point.
Such an idiot. I never knew he had a side like this. Petal must have changed him to assume such a fatherly persona. Everything he did now wasn't anything that would cause alarm. There was no violence or seriousness in his growls or the force he threw behind his actions. It was all as if he were roughing around with his own child.
It made me smile seeing him like this. He had fought so hard for them to show he was something more than some hormonal male demon in the crowd.
Emry flicked chips at me when he sat back down to try and pick out the ones we hadn't crushed. He snorted at each toss until his face suddenly grew serious at the sound of his chiming ringtone.
He yanked out his phone and leant back while i took advantage of his distraction and scoffed down the food between us.
"You can't be serious!" he suddenly cried out into the phone "you're kidding, right?"
I peered over as he listened in shock. My fingers ran circles in my pocket at the change in Emry's whole demeanour.
"There's no way" he laughed, looking to me "yeah, he's here."
He pressed a button and placed the phone down on the paper.
"Teddy Bear!" Azalea's voice sang out before squealing "someone found them! Someone actually found all of them! The whole family!"
"They did?!" I gasped back as my heart flew up into my mouth "really?!"
"Yes!" Azalea cried out excitedly "I'm sending Emry the location. It's about two hours from here! I've got the actual address!"
Instantly, my excitement fell.
I hadn't prepared for any of this. All of my belongings were still in that suitcase at home. I was smeared in hot chips and wasn't wearing my best clothes i had planned for such a momentous occasion. Plus, i still needed to arrange transport.
The circles burrowed harder into the gull's wing.
"I'll take him right there!" Emry decided for me "we can sort out all his stuff at home later. He's got the most important one with him anyway" he added with a sly wink to me.
This was actually happening. It was all here.
IT WAS FUCKING HAPPENING!
I didn't know what to do with my body. I wanted to jump about and shout out all at once, maybe even try and attempt a few cartwheels that i knew i wouldn't be able to do.
I was pinging with excited energy. We weren't moving fast enough to reach them! We knew where to go so we should be going!
I handed Emry the phone and scrunched up the chips so we could get going. He laughed at my energy and followed along behind me at his own pace.
He walked like a dad on a lazy Sunday afternoon taking in the sights. I needed him at his fastest right now. This was no time to dawdle!
"Get going!" i rammed him from behind with my body "LET'S GO! MOVE!"
"I'll talk to you later" Emry snorted at the force i was throwing into getting him to move just a bit faster "love you, Pumpkin."
"LOVE YOU, THANK YOU, BYE!" i shouted to the phone before Emry could hang up the call and shove me back to he could race me back to the car.
"Let's go, Teddy Bear!" he grinned when we both buckled ourselves in "its finally time!"
I saw him pull up the directions for the address that snaked its way through its virtual landscape to the spot where they would be waiting. Emry backed the car out of the parking spot to veer us along the spoken directions.
THIS WAS IT!
I was so happy i felt sick. Bursting with new energy that exhausted me. I felt like i needed to pee from all this craziness hammering around me.
Two hours. That's all it was now. It was so close and so far all at once!
What was i going to say?
What should i do?
Oh jeez, i didn't know. I had planned all of this and it had instantly melted out of my brain. All that time spent perfecting this, and it had left me so easily.
My throat felt so dry. I needed a drink.
I needed to file my horns! I couldn't go seeing them like this! We didn't even get the file yet!
"Relax" Emry grabbed my shoulder to squeeze it "it'll be fine."
"What if they forgot me?" the newest thought slipped from my mouth "last time i saw River, he almost lost himself. And Lavender; will she know what i look like? I was a Death Bird last time i saw her. And Darcy..."
"Death Bird" Emry smiled at the name "they'll know who you are, Teddy. Just go up there and tell them your name if you are so worried. I assure you, you won't need to."
Tell them my name. Yeah, they knew that. I was Teddy. Teddy Bear Griffin.
They'll know. They couldn't forget me. Lavender was the one who had named me.
"Why don't you try and get some sleep before we get there?" Emry offered "you don't want to wear yourself out."
"I'm not a kid" i scoffed back, but felt the exhaustion rubbing at the back of my eyes now that my energy had been restrained into sitting in this car seat and staring out at the road.
It felt like i was wall watching again. Just that idea made me want to fall asleep.
"I'll let you know when we get there" Emry smiled at me resting my head into my seat belt "promise."
I clung to his words and tried to fight it as long as i could before i closed my eyes and gave in.
It felt like i had only closed my eyes and opened them again when a gentle pushing made me aware of the strange surrounds i was in.
"We're here" Emry whispered.
I couldn't think through the grogginess still clouding my mind. Then, slowly, i felt it all come back at once.
Lavender! River! Darcy!
"It's this house on my side" Emry directed me to the light yellow house perched up on a sloped driveway. It had a white picket fence surrounding the boundaries and a cute curved mailbox out the front.
Number thirty.
I checked the phone and saw it was the right destination.
That was their home. They were behind that white door.
I was scared. What if we had come all this way to be greeted by strangers? What if they had moved and we had been given the wrong address?
"Teddy" Emry poked my leg "go on."
I unbuckled myself and slipped out of the car. The excitement that fuelled me was now nervous energy that shook my steps towards the sidewalk at the bottom of the slope.
I looked back to Emry who flashed me a thumbs up.
I could do this. Just tell them your name.
Ok.
I found the little wooden stairs carved into the side of the slope that led straight to the elaborate gate in the picket fence. They were filled with stones that tumbled with each lengthened step i took, threatening to trip me.
I wasn't going to make a fool of myself. Not now.
My hand ran along the top of the gate before sliding inside to find the latch. I saw a stone walkway leading to the three stairs to the home. There was a garden to the right of the stairs that a shirtless demon toiled in. His back rippled while he grunted and stabbed at the weeds there.
The River in the photograph had longer arms than that. This looked nothing like him. The gold and white spots on his shoulders looked wrong too. Weren't River's more toward the front?
Was i at the right place?
Number thirty. It was right there beside the door as well.
"Um, excuse me?"
The demon huffed and stopped working. His tail flicked up at the sound of my voice before he turned around.
"Who are you?" it grumbled when it threw down the weeder and approached me with narrowed eyes "never seen you around here before."
River would have recognised me, surely.
"Are you River?"
It kept quiet and folded its arms. The eyes narrowed further into a glare that looked me up and down and focused on my hand around the latch of the gate.
Was.... was this him?!
"I-it's me" I forced out with a small smile "Teddy."
The glare immediately slipped away and the demon's eyes widened. They flicked over me again.
"I'm looking for Darcy too" i added hopefully "we got separated wh-when he almost drowned."
The demon's lip quivered and he choked out a noise.
"Teddy?"
I whimpered when i nodded, letting my burning tears roll down.
"Teddy?!" River gasped out, yanking open the gate to throw himself into my arms and wail into my shoulder "I m-missed you s-so much!"
"I missed you too" I shivered into him and squeezed him tight "i m-missed y-y-ou so much!"
"Oh, T-Teddy!" River buried his head into my neck "i n-never th-tho-thought i-d see you a-again!"
I broke down in his arms. He was saying exactly what i had been thinking this whole time. The fact i had believed that for so long cut through me. He had believed the exact same thing.
"I love you" he lifted his sobbing head to me and gripped my face in between his trembling hands "i never said that enough to you. I love you, i love you, i love you!"
His wavering lips pressed to mine. Our tears and running faces made the desperate kiss a very messy one that made us both gasp out shaky laughter.
"H-How?" he frowned.
I moved aside so River could look down at Emry talking into his phone at Azalea's face. He waved and she did too before hanging up, making River whimper and grip me again. Emry only smiled at both of us through tearful eyes then honked his horn and drove off to leave me in River's arms.
I didn't want to let go. We just stood there, trying not to break down again when we enjoyed the embrace.
River kissed the top of my head and the crushed my lips to his when i lifted my face up.
"Did you want to go see the baby?" he smiled through fresh tears, grinning.
"B-baby?" my voice failed me and i snivelled against River again.
"Lavender and Darcy" he ran his thumbs over my streaming cheeks "we h-have a ni-nine year o-old girl. Her n-name is H-Harlow" he nodded, choking back tears with me "a-and a s-seven y-year old girl called T-Tori. Sh-She's a lot like you."
We both tried to laugh through shallow breaths and messy faces.
"A one y-year old b-boy" River held up a finger "M-Moss."
"Moss?" i chuckled along with him, wiping my eyes and seeing River nod his head with a grin.
"He's a handful but so beautiful."
"I'd really like to meet them" i looked up at River who turned us towards the door we both gazed at.
Right behind it was my family. And our children. Three of them.
Instantly, I was nervous.
What if they didn't like me? And would Lavender and Darcy still recognize me? Even River didn't realise it was me.
"You have to tell me about all of your adventures" River rubbed my shoulder reassuringly and kissed my head again on our walk up to the stairs "i think the children would love to hear all about their father too and all the crazy things he did. Where do you think you'll start?"
I rested my hand on the door knob, hearing laughter just on the other side, before looking up at River and his gleaming eyes.
I was scared.
"Well, it all started with an exploding sky" I grinned as his tears fell onto my face and mixed with my own "and one roadtrip to a glow worm cave."
"Go on" he laughed at me and grinned when I hesitated "they don't bite... well, the older two at least. Go tell them all about it, Teddy."
I took a deep breath in and felt River's hand wrap around my own to help me open the door.
This was it.
"You can do it" River encouraged "tell them you are here."
I looked up at him, terrified.
They wouldn't recognize me. I was a stranger to them now. A grown demon letting himself into thier home; they'd think I was trespassing.
"Lavender is out the back with Moss. Darcy is in the loungeroom. Harlow and Tori are in the backyard."
I didn't even know where to begin.
The whole house was foreign to me. I just stood there, staring at the hallway opposite me that ran directly to the back door where I could see a flash of blonde hair go flying past, and squeals of delight follow.
"Oh, right" River realised "come on."
He took off his shoes inside and placed them on the bench just inside. There were little holes for all the shoes, and even hooks for tiny coats that hung there with a barrel of umbrellas.
The first room was the living room to the left. It was open and bordered by a lovely archway.
There was a brick fireplace on the wall opposite us. The area around it was bordered with logs stacked artistically into the wall like an artwork.
My bare feet savored the feeling of the blue carpet on my toes. River marched over it to head to the small wood table that a large puzzle rested on.
There was a man sitting on the ground to study the piece he held.
That must have been Darcy.
His blonde hair curled at the back of his head, cut short and styled so each curling ring bunched together perfectly.
His sunburnt skin was on show through the grey singlet that hung from him. His brow furrowed over the puzzle piece he held and studied over the incomplete picture.
I hadn't expected Darcy to be so old. He had similarities to the boy I knew, but this man sitting there wasn't the one I recognized as the kid fighting for his life in my arms.
"Darc" River slapped his back and pulled the piece from him to slap it into the wrong place, stealing his cup as he laughed "someone here to meet you."
He looked to me and smiled. It wasn't a warm one of familiarity but the one people forced when guests came over.
River slurped the cup noisily, watching Darcy get to his feet and walk over to me with a hand held out.
"Nice to meet you" he grinned "sorry about River. He can be a little... forward."
He spoke different. His voice wasn't light anymore and had aged with him.
I looked down at the hand then to River who gestured for me to take it.
What was Lavender like if this was supposed to be Darcy?
I ignored his hand and walked past him on the hunt for Sprig.
"Uh, is there something I can help you with?" Darcy called out when I passed through another arch and peered around the joined kitchen.
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It was all cutesy yellow trims on the windows and wooden statues of chickens with bows around thier necks lined up on the window sil. 108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmsszO235J
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There as even a white weathered table in the kitchen that had checkered blue and white placemats on it.
"Teddy" River warned when I left the kitchen to re-emerge into the hallway and promptly ignore the other hall leading down to more doors to favlir the one taking me out the back "you are getting worked up."
"That's Teddy?!" I heard Darcy breathe in shock behind me.
I felt River's hand grab for my tail that I yanked from him as I burst out the back door and onto a verandah.
A woman with curled brown hair tied back into a little red bandana held a coloured plastic gun that she pumped the water through. Her floral swimmers were a simple two piece that was being soaked by the squealling child shooting her with a jet of water.
The other child had short blonde hair like Darcy's that was soaked to her tanned face. Her bright pink scale-printed one piece was frilled on the curve of her hips to add to the mermaid look her clothing was trying to achieve
Another child sat to my right, focused on her phone while sucking on an icy pole, until her brown eyes peeled upwards to look me over in confusion. She had a blue bikini on, but was completely dry. Her bottom half was wrapped in some sheer flowery sarong that looked like it belonged to the woman.
This girl was like Sprig, but she was far too young.
And the baby perched up beside her wasn't even a human. It was a pitch black demon with the tiniest, whispiest hair that fluffed almost like an afro. It's tail couldn't be bigger than it's little arms gripping it's own icy pole with both chubby hands to try and eat it through its little fangs.
Nothing about any of this felt of smelled right.
"Teddy" River gripped my arm suddenly "you need to relax. You are working yourself up over nothing."
Over nothing?
I turned back to him then looked to the woman whose grin faltered at the sight of me. Her black halo radiated from her soul, glistening like it had when it had been torn from her.
But... was it her?
She was much older than the Sprig I knew. This woman liked things differently to her, and even smelled strange. 108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbykfT81VIE
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The metal from the tap water dripping off her and her child reeked from them both, but there was an underlying sharp scent of the gumtree both of them had been using as cover from each other.
She didn't smell like cinnamon or oranges. There wasn't even the lavender bath salts she loved so much.
I had made a mistake.
"You need to sit down" River soothed as he guided me back inside and to the kitchen table "you are freaking out. It's a lot to take in at once."
The woman, Sprig; or whoever she was, watched us leave. The child sitting on the varendah got up to follow us inside.
"Harlow, can you get us some water please?" Darcy called out and drew up a chair beside me, holding onto my hands that pulled away.
He wasn't the same either. Darcy was a shy thing who didn't have a shred of confidence in him. He was the kid scared of the dark, loud noises, and being out too late.
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He smelled like coffee and cheap cardboard from the puzzle in the livingroom.
Oh no, oh no, oh no.
"Who's that, Dad?" I heard a whisper as the glass was placed down next to me.
I brought my hands up to cover my head. All of these strange eyes watching me, whispering about me as I sat here in a house too perfect to be true.
The door creaked open and fell shut with a slam. I heard footsteps and muttering for the girl to leave us and head back outside.
My tail wound around the chair leg for comfort. One hand left my head to grip the seagull in my pocket and smooth it with circular thumb strokes on its back and beak.
"It's a lot" I heard River admit to the others who pulled him off to the side "I just thought he'd take it better."
"Better than this?" Darcy muttered "he doesn't know what to do with himself! Sprig, you need to sit down and talk to him. It's Teddy; he's come back."
Sprig. Only I called her that.
My ears twitched up at the name, which silenced the muttering.
"Teddy?"
She was so close now. I could smell the metal dripping from her and feel a cold hand gently grab mine.
"Will you look up at me, Teddy Bear?"
It felt off. She didn't sound the same. She wasn't the same Sprig.
But I looked up at her like she wanted. I saw her freckles and moles on her skin and the confused pain glistening in her eyes.
They judged me, searching for answers I couldn't give. Her black soul was the only thing that was the same as it had been.
The shame of doubting her made me drop my eyes and ears back down. I was still scared of the stranger before me that was meant to be my Sprig.
Her arms wrapped around me to pull me into her body tightly. I felt the sobs tear out of her before I heard them shaking around me.
My arms reached up to cling to Sprig. I felt my own breath falter when hot tears of my own smeared in her hair and on her warm skin pressed to my face.
I couldn't even get words out. I was just a blubbering mess that pulled her down to her knees so I could squeeze her tightly like she was going to dissappear if I let her go again.
Maybe she would. I wanted so badly to believe this was my Sprig I had been searching for. River had been real so far, and there was no way he was going to abandon either of them.
They were strange, but these were my other two missing pieces.
Darcy and Lavander.
"Teddy" Sprig choked out when I smothered her head in kisses and rubbed my own along it to try and cover that metal scent with my own "I missed y-you so much! W-where on earth did you g-go?"
"I was still there" I murmered into her neck now "I went back home."
The only sound was our sobs when we remained locked to each other. I was the one who pried Sprig from me so I could get up and wrap my arms around Darcy to bury my head into his neck.
His own found my shoulder that supported his sadness shaking through him.
There were no words between us. We just stood there in our silent embrace until I peeled from him to wipe the tears from his eyes and place a gentle kiss on his nose to see a small smile creep up.
His cheap cardboard was smothered under my own scent when I made sure to nuzzle into his neck and leave part of me behind.
At least there was something familiar there.
I heard River grumble at the affection before he stepped in to make it clear that Darcy was still his.
I pulled from him with a smile, seeing Darcy giggle at River's scowl to me and his tail winding around Darcy's leg to hold him.
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I liked how it made him react to see me testing my boundaries with Darcy.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5ErLdI5zL
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At least that hadn't changed.
It reminded me of the same way he reacted to keeping me from everyone else. He was always so fierce with his emotions.
"Drink your water" he slid the glass towards me "then you can fill us in on all the details."
"Girls" Darcy's eyes flicked up to the door "adult conversation."
I turned to see three heads all gathered at the back door to peek in curiously. Harlow held onto Moss who was trying to eat her hair.
"Dad!" Harlow whined back "I am an adult!"
"Not just yet!" River laughed back to them "go on! Get!"
They laughed and squealed when River took the water gun from Lavender to shoot at the back door and hit them right in the face.
River rushed out, firing away and trying to close the door behind him that was splashing the water onto the floor inside.
I giggled at thier antics. Lavender sat down at the table with me, her hand sliding to Darcy's.
It hurt me deep inside. Even though Darcy was part of our relationship, I felt like it should have been my hand she held so lovingly.
We had plans once. And now she was sharing them with him.
"So, when did this happen?" I looked to thier hands and tried to keep the pain out of my voice "I've never heard him call you Sprig until just now either."
Darcy was River's. In my dreams he had been with her, but that was when it was by my own doing to give her away. This felt like he had taken her from me.
I didn't like this.
"Well, Teddy..." Lavender started "...its been years. Darcy and River helped me through a very tough time and things developed from there. We both wanted the same things and could achieve them."
They smiled to each other. I felt myself sour.
"Did you even look for me?"
"Teddy..."
"I couldn't find you out there!" I pointed to the front door "I searched for you, Sprig, but you weren't there! I went back home and to Darcy's old house that these... people... were in" I grumbled at the painful memory "I waited for you and you never came back. I... lost everything."
Shame drilled into me at admitting how easily I had let my mutations take me. Bleeding and dying at the front door of my own home wasn't the way Sprig needed to see me for; Darcy either. I wasn't that hopeless person.
"I went back there but you weren't there" Lavender spoke coolly to me "and I searched for you all the way back. It took us two days to get to Mum and Dad's new home before I was able to get my car and come back. I did look, Teddy, but there are only so many places I can look for a demon who had wings back then."
I dropped my burning gaze and let the shame roll over me.
I had let myself become something terrible. Lavender wouldn't have wanted me if she saw the dripping, angry creature I had turned into after my abandonment.
"Did you ever find my soul?" I grimaced at the hole in her chest "after we got seperated and I went back, those people didn't show up. I kept yours safe."
I heard Lavender take a deep breath in and look to Darcy who instantly had worry on his face.
"Teddy" she began "that's what we want to talk to you about."
Darcy left the table to walk around me and across the hallway into the other with the doors. I saw him return only moments later with a large, black jar sloshing with liquid that he sat between us.
"They returned all the ones they stole two years ago" he spoke now "and we kept yours safe."
"But not inside you. Why didn't you eat it again?"
"Well..."
Lavender was clearly uncomfortable. Darcy's thumb ran over her hand he squeezed comfortingly.
"Well?"
They both struggled to find the words. Eventually, Lavender sighed again and drew in the strength she needed to grimace at me.
"I want to be Bound to Darcy."
ns 15.158.61.6da2
