Fan Fiction ❯ Between the Stars and Sky ❯ (Untitled For Now) ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Told you in the prologue.

Chapter 3: (Untitled For Now)

Skye, to his own surprise, awoke the next morning. He sat up, looking around, completely confused.

"But I was impaled by that branch… I lost too much blood… I thought I…" Skye didn't finish the sentence for himself. He looked around at the bramble of leaves and wood next to him, and then he lifted his shirt, noticing that it still held a hole. He saw no hole on his abdomen, but a faint pink outline of it remained.

"This is too weird…" Skye whispered, standing up. He looked into the tree, and what he saw made him keel over and vomit. Almost all of the tree was stained with blood. His blood. "There is no way I could have survived losing all this blood." Skye muttered to himself, wiping his mouth.

He stood up again and looked around. At once he spotted the demon. Or what was left of it. And he nearly vomited again once he saw it. The head had been completely decapitated from the body and was lying at few feet away from the body, still smoking and glowing from Starr's ballistic attack on it. The right eye (the one Skye had punctured) had completely exploded from its socket, spraying tissue and blood everywhere, burning and singeing its face and scalp. Its mouth was dropped open, revealing a swollen tongue that had swelled 3 times its regular size, poking out of its mouth, blood dripping down it and the demon's chin where his fangs had punctured it. On its left cheek, the scales and muscles had been torn away and the demon's bone could be seen poking out. Hair had been burned away, along with the scales up at the top, making the skull shine in the sunlight, bleached and cracked from an unknown blast of energy.

The torso of the body wasn't much better. The rest of the legs above the knees had been scorched away, letting the intestines drape out, spilling onto the grass and burning it down to the dirt. Bone was poking out of the socket that used to hold his left arm, blood streaming out around it. Deep cuts were everywhere on it and at places scales and muscles were torn away completely.

Skye was about to go relieve himself from the graphic sight by kicking the remains off a cliff when he saw Starr lying in a heap on the edge of the clearing. She was deathly pale, and blood was dripping down her face from a wound in her head. In Skye's head, she looked so weak and vulnerable, and Skye was worried that she might have died.

He ran over to her and cradled her head in his arms. His vision slid over her body, which was badly bruised and battered. He ran his hand over a large cut that was over her stomach. Blood smeared over his hand, and he looked in disgust over at the dead and shredded body of the demon.

Skye felt his heart soften at the sight of Starr. She looked so weak… and so near death. Skye kneeled down next to her and very gently placed his arms under her. Placing one arm behind her back and the other behind her knees, he picked her up, not caring that her blood was now soaking into his own blood-crusted clothes. Walking past the remains of the demon, he slowly trudged back to town, careful not to injure Starr any more than she already was.

It took a few hours to get to town, but Skye was determined. He finally made it to the secluded Inn his family owned. Not many people came to it because it was surrounded by woods, and it was pretty hard to find, yet the Inn was close enough to market to make quick trips for shopping and food. But they got enough money to pay taxes from the parties and get-togethers that were usually held there. The town's tax collector didn't come around much, and the taxes were very low. One of the only pros of living in Plantar.

He finally reached the steps to the Inn when his little brother and sister, Kuji and Kehri, came running around the corner. Kuji was taunting his twin sister by playing keep away with her doll.

"HA HA! You can't get it!!! Hahahahaha!!!!" Kuji laughed.

"Hey you stop that Kuji! You meanie! That's not-!" Kehri was shouting, but she stopped when she saw Skye. "SKYE!!!!! Wha-wha-what happened to her?!?!?!!" Kehri screamed. Kuji dropped the doll and ran to his sister's side.

"What happened Big Brother???" Kuji yelled at his older brother.

Suddenly Skye's mom, Sutzi came running around the corner. "What in heaven's name is goin- My GOD what happened???" She gasped.

"I can't explain now, we need Kahgji to help her first." Skye ordered, walking to the Medicine Wing, referring to his grandfather who was and expert doctor. Kahgji and his wife, Hirah were both the best doctors in town, but not many knew that, so they were usually always open to help someone.

"Yes of course dear." Sutzi nodded to her son. "I will finish hanging up the wash and then I will make you some soup. And make sure you get yourself treated too dear. Heaven knows what will become of you this time if you don't." Sutzi recalled, remembering the times that Skye had refused to be treated for his wounds and injuries.

"Yes Mother." Skye growled, glowering a little, but hurrying off to the Medicine Wing. He arrived quickly and burst into the main room. He was about to shout something out, but his grandfather cut him off will the old man's soft and low voice.

"It is alright Skye, we already know that you are here and need assistance. Please bring her to the Care Room now." Kaghji spoke, smiling and gesturing to the side room where intensive care patients were sent. Kahgji nodded his balding head and rubbed his moustache and beard. He was wearing a loose white shirt with very large arm sleeves, a red cape over that, and large red pants.

"Yes Grandfather." Skye said, taking Starr over to the bed in the room and returning to the main room afterwards. He was about to ask if Starr would be OK, but Kahgji stuffed some kind of herb concoction in the boy's mouth and pushed him into another side room. `There must be some kind of sleep potion in this stuff…. I suddenly feel really tired….' Skye thought, as he dropped onto the bed and fell asleep to the sounds of his grandfather's chuckling.

~*~

Skye woke to the soft sounds of talking outside his room and sat up in his bed. He grabbed his head and rubbed his temples. Man… it feels like I was drunk or that I was drugged or something… A sudden thought crossed his mind. Oh man… stupid Grandfather… he knew I wouldn't sleep unless I knew if Starr was ok… so he drugged me! Argh! My family knows me too well! Skye grumbled about how he was tricked so easily, so he got out of bed and walked into the main room. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw Starr sitting there-bandaged-but talking to his grandparents and looking fine.

His sigh gathered the attention of everyone in the room. His gaze was on Starr, and when her eyes caught his he felt his face grow hot. She smiled at him nodded her head. And suddenly, he saw Starr's gaze travel down his body and her face grew to a bright pink. Skye raised his eyebrows and looked at his grandfather.

"Heh heh heh… too hot for clothes tonight, isn't it Skye?" Kaghji chuckled and Skye looked down. All he was in was his light blue boxers. Skye blushed a very deep shade of red and started to stutter.

"I… I er.. I … I will… I mean… I'll just… erm…" Skye stuttered.

"Go get your clothes on, Skye? I do believe you are making our guest very uncomfortable." Hirah smiled at her grandson.

"I.. er… yeah.." Skye mumbled throwing a glance at a blushing Starr and backing back up into his room and grumbling in embarrassment. He quickly put on a pair of light khaki's and blue t-shirt and walked back out to the main room.

He came out once again to find Starr sitting at a table, waiting, apparently, for Skye to come in.

"Oh good Skye, we'll be serving you two in here tonight." Kaghji said, smiling at his grandson.

"But Grandfather, Starr and I can walk to the house from here! It can barely be counted as a walk!" Skye huffed, not believing he was arguing about this.

"No no, Skye." Hirah scolded Skye, like a young child. "You two need your rest, and you will be staying here for tonight, alright? If your mother sees you out and about, why she would throw a fit!" Skye sweat dropped at how childish his grandparents were making him sound.

"It is alright, Skye. It's fine here." Starr spoke up, and motioned for him to sit across from her. He looked over at her and felt his face flush. Dammit, what's happening to me?? Skye thought. Everytime I look at her I feel myself go hot!! What's going on??? Skye felt his heart speed up as he gave in and sat down across from Starr.

"Alright, you win." He said.

"Good, well, we really must be getting to bed now. It is very late, and we advise you two to get to your own beds soon as well. Good night to the both of you." Kaghji spoke, leading himself and his wife out the door to the small cottage they lived, next to the infirmary.

"Good night Sir, Ma'am." Starr chirped happily. She looked over at Skye. "C'mon Skye, it's not that bad. This place is warm, and it has good food."

"Well it does have good food, but your room is the only one that's warm! Mine's not insulated yet!" Skye mused, sulking a bit.

~~~Featured End~~~