A Dragon's Quarrel

[»Míríel«]

Neron’s heart soared at the feeling of falling, his little plan had worked. To tell you the truth he was exhilarated by this fight, it was a challenge. Not like killing stupid humans, just breath some fire, actually just land in front of them and they start running like chickens with their heads cut off. But fighting a dragon....it was so much better. Perhaps he and Damion would have to fight more often. The light died in his eyes, no he wouldn’t let that happen he hoped it all ended right here.
The beating of wings came to his attention and his eyes flicked backwards for a minute. What was Damion doing why was he following him? It would just push him to the ground. The ground.... Neron’s eyes widened slightly, there Damion would certainly get better odds with him, as if his odds of winning weren’t good enough. Damion was bigger then he was and if he were to get pinned. Neron knew he had to prevent this from happening. So he decided to go the other direction, up. Spreading his wings he felt the air start to push against them, slowing his decent. But he never got to much farther.
Something was coming at him, magic. He tried to twist out of the way but it was to close and it hit him on his good wing. If both of his wings had been fine then he would have been able to balance this out, but instead his left wing was to weak and he started to spin out of control. Pain wreathed through both his wings now and he felt himself falling, perhaps not as fast as when his wings were pinned, but still falling. “I have to get out of this.. I have to...I still have a chance.” His anger surged through him and his mind got taken over by sheer panic and anger. His eyes narrowed as he pinned his wings to his side, and with a twist he righted himself to a downward spiral. Then stretching his wings once more he slanted them so that the force of him going downward projected him into the air. His blood was hot, he wanted to draw blood for Damion sending that cheap magic at him. So seeing Damion’s open side, all reason left Neron and he went straight for his target at a great speed. He would get Damion back for that even if it cost him his life.
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Miriel saw Jaedon’s gaze at her but she didn’t respond, at first. Instead she just averted her gaze from the sky and it went to the ground. Releasing herself from Ares’s grip she lowered herself to the ground and proceeded to tear grass into tiny little pieces. “Imagine that, what a coincidence.” Inwardly she was thankful of the darkness to be hiding the blush that crept across her face. It sounded cold, perhaps because she didn’t know how to talk about Damion right now, her emotions as they were.
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Ares just grunted slightly. This was true, perhaps letting the two fight it out would be a good thing, that’s how you got Neron calmed down usually. You had to draw that anger and fire from within him. He shook his head, that still didn’t make him feel any better about this. He turned to JAedon and smiled crookedly, “You seem like quite a caring friend.” It was said in a playful tone.

[saerwen]

Damion was about to go giddy with happiness. His plan was working! It was true that Neron would probably get one good hit off of his side, but Damion was going to win in the end, because the second that Neron attacked, Damion was going to close his wings and throw himself down on Neron. But then... He had an even better idea that would throw the chess board into disaster in one moment. Instead of waiting for Neron to attack, why not just fall now. Neron was coming so fast that he wouldn’t be able to stop any way, and the added force of the impact would serve just as well. Damion took the few seconds that he had to create a shield and let his large, powerful wings take one more swing. They sent him on a perfect collision course with Neron. And then, there it was... BAM! That’s gonna leave a mark on one of us... Which one it is I can’t tell yet...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jaedon heard a muffled thud up in the sky. “Damion’s about to win... Neron’s gonna be a goner if he keeps fighting like an air head, and Damion won’t even mean to kill him.” She shook her head. What a ridiculous fool you are Neron. You could at least try to think while you are fighting someone like Damion.
She heard what Ares said and she smirked. “Yeah, I am the caring friend that Neron calls witch, Damion calls Enchantress, and Miriel calls imp, or something close to it.” She shook her head agian. “If that gives you any idea of how caring I am...then even your sarcasm is misplaced.” Her words stung her worse than anyone else. I am the kind of caring friend that kills your best friends father... That kills her best friends father... She moved from her current position and started to walk along the edge of the lake slowly, not traveling very far.

[»Míríel«]

Neron’s eyes narrowed as he drew closer to Damion, but a sense of dread started to fill his heart, this was to easy. But it was to late to turn back anyways, might as well go through with the plan and hope everything came out ok. Stretching his talons out he prepared for contact with Damion. But here was another case where things went wrong. Just as his front right arm stretched out the collision took place, but not from where Neron was expecting. Damion’s wing lashed out at him and caught his leg making it fold under him in a strange way. A crack sounded and Neron’s bone cracked almost in half. Though breaking a dragons bone is a hard thing to do, at the speed Neron had been going anything was possible. The pain was raging through his arm and attacking his nervous system with a fury, but this time he didn’t let out a sound besides a slight growl. He didn’t even feel the rest of his body collide with Damion’s shield. A sharp ringing filled his ears, as the voices circling in his head began to chant in a soothing and relaxing way, wanting to lull him asleep. Neron knew all to well what they would have in store for him if he did go off into the “haven” of sleep. So through sheer will power Neron forced himself to stay conscious.
The fight was over, Neron realized and all he had gained from it was a broken leg, wounds, and a hurt pride. Even the anger that had poured out of him nor the taste of blood had given him any satisfaction. Usually this would have upset him immensely and he would have sulked for a long time alone, but this time he didn’t care a bit. In fact he was almost pleased it had gone this way. Now if he could just get Damion mad at him, make him angry... perhaps his final goal could be accomplished. Lashing out with his teeth and gripping and scratching with his talons, he tried to tear at anything he could reach to inflict harm on Damion.

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Ares shook his head at the thud and his eyes returned up into the night sky. He listened to Jaedon with a strange look in his eye, knowing that she was beating herself down, even though Jaedon might not show being upset about all this as well as Miriel, Ares could tell that she was very bothered by all this. Yet it didn’t seem to be because of Damion, Miriel, or even Neron, it was herself she was upset with. “Well considering that Neron has never fought a fellow dragon, I suppose he is doing fairly well.” He turned his gaze to Jaedon. Even though he still felt wrong about this fighting, there was nothing he could do. But even still a shadow of worry resided in his eyes. “Neron usually doesn’t quarrel with dragons, especially older ones and considering that Damion seems to be both of those it is strange to see Neron provoked. Plus he’s never really fought anything besides humans.. and supposedly they aren’t very hard for a dragon near the size of a house.” He sighed and turned to Miriel, “Besides you.” His eyes turned brooding as he got lost in his thoughts. Neron had told him a lot about what had happened between Miriel and him, and a lot of other things. He was lost to the world for a couple moments.
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Miriel just shook her head and stood up, brushing the dirt from her pants. Her eyes turned to Jaedon, “What do you mean something close to it? You are the description of an imp.” A slight smile shadowed her face. “A good friend but an imp none the less.”

[saerwen]

Damion knew that sound oh too well, he just couldn’t tell if it had been himself, or Neron. When he went a few more seconds without feeling any pain anywhere and still being able to move most everything, he deduced that it must have been Neron. Poor chap…He’ll get over it tolerably well though…and even if he doesn’t there really isn’t anything that he can do about it. Damion hadn’t really cared about anything getting hurt…he was fine either way. He had been through so many fights in his life, and most of them he came out of either completely victorious, or almost dead, but every single fight had always been littered with wounds, and that was something that fighters just had to accept. It was going to happen.
Neron was fading, and he could tell. This fight was becoming a desperate struggle, like watching someone that has been trained in sword-fighting come to the end of all reason and just start bastard swinging, it was pathetic really. He decided that he wasn’t going to hurt Neron any further…It would be pointless. Neron knew that he had lost, and perhaps this had done something to that cynical nature of his…or perhaps not… Either way, this fight was pointless, and he knew that Miriel was probably down on the ground crying. That picture hurt worse than anything that had been inflicted in the fight. Aish! Damion, my friend, you are gonna have to make it up to her. You should have held your temper…you were too hot headed. Neron was now scratching wildly at him, trying to go down fighting, not knowing how to accept defeat with grace. Damion decided that it would be best if they went down slowly, that would give them both time to calm down and start to change back into their skins. He grappled with Neron, his claws digging in enough to hold on firmly, almost straight in the face, and he started to push for the ground, but not very forcefully. He thought about saying something, but he knew that would be useless. Hopefully Neron could take a hint.

[»Míríel«]

Neron felt Damion’s grip tighten on him, restricting his movements to minimum. The sense of Damions feelings cooling down was just what Neron didn’t want. “Blasted luck.” He cursed under his breath, why did everything have to go wrong with him. Letting out a growl his eyes narrowed, “I should have known, you couldn’t take a life, you are too weak. It would put a raincloud in that sunny day of yours eh? Though I suppose you would have to tell Miriel that you killed one of her best friends, what a shame. I doubt she will be happy with the mess she has to clean up between the two of us and her being so weak still.” He smirked. “But you didn’t care about that a little while ago, I saw the look she gave you.” Neron winced as his foreleg bounced uncontrollably against Damion. “ I’m sure she will give you quite the greeting. I’ll make sure to remind her that it was you who started losing your skin first. I guess you will go back to just having Jaedon to talk to.”
He was going to say more but the pain was too great. Stars were flashing in front of his face and Damion was becoming a white blob. White, it was filling his vision up with its sickening color and it was growing cold about him, as if numbness wasn’t enough. He had to keep with it, he had to, if he wanted to end everything it would have to be through this.
Ares nodded in reply but didn’t have too much to say about it. “Perhaps this will bring the two closer…” The white dragon seemed to be heading toward the group on the ground and the sounds of battle had ceased. “Looks like it is over… that didn’t take long.”
Miriel lifted her head and stared at the oncoming dragons. It was hard to see in the night sky, but Damion’s form could be spotted if you looked hard enough. But her heart didn’t leap with excitement at knowing it was over, nor did it fall into dread, it was numb, dead. It was as if her emotions didn’t know where to turn or what to do but had instead short circuited until sense could be made out of this mess. Her hand lifted over her eyes as she felt faint. Perhaps the walk out here had been too much for her. “I can’t show weakness I don’t want him to see it. I don’t want him to show any worry or sympathy for me, it would break down my anger...Damion why do you have to be so caring? No…I can’t think about this.. I can’t look at what he did...” Her fingers massaged her temples for a moment before she let the whole hand drop to her side. Why did everything have to be so confusing?

[saerwen]

This…why did it always have to be like this? Why?! Couldn’t they just battle in silence and then go back with a changed attitude. Girls really might not understand it, but guys sometimes just have to let loose. They just have to start swinging at something, get angry at something, or let their stress out in what seemed like the most stupid of ways. Even Damion, the gentleman for life had to have these moments. He had just had one with Neron, and now that it was practically over, Neron was going to change everything. He wanted to bring something else on. Does this idiot want me to throttle him? What is his problem?! Damion thought as Neron started talking. It was nothing more than slightly annoying prattle until Neron mentioned Miriel and how upset she would be with their mess. That was when it evolved into a little bit more. Damion felt burning anger surge through him, it was like fire, a hated feeling that came without control and without anyway of stopping it other than melting ice into water on top of it. His eyes blazed and narrowed as Neron continued on with his aimless jabbing that was hitting the spot incredibly hard.
The second that Neron ended, Damion’s anger caught up with him, and everything that he had said went crashing through Damion at one time…Miriel. What was she going to say? Was she falling to pieces while her two best friends were fighting? The poor thing, she must be in a wreck… Damion was filled with anger that Neron would take advantage of her position for his own purpose. He lost every sense in him that said Go down gently, for Neron’s sake. and he started flying to the ground. In fact, he went so fast that they were on the ground in no time. On the way down, Damion Let out a rage-filled roar “SHUT-UP!” As soon as that filled the air, there was a thunderous impact on the ground about a quarter of a mile from Jaedon, Miriel, and Ares. Neron was on the bottom, and Damion on the top, glowing like the north star. Damion stayed there, holding Neron down for 5 minutes or so, using magic to enhance his strength as he panted slightly at exerting so much of his anger.
“Closer? You’re kidding right? The only way that Neron will get close to anyone is if they pass through death to get there.” Jaedon looked up suddenly, as soon as she heard Damion yell… He was ticked off. Furious. She had not seen him like that in years. It took a lot to get Damion that angry, and she wondered what Neron had said. Oh look, there’s your stupid action for you. I knew it wouldn’t take long. She had not removed her eyes from the sky, and so saw as Damion started to fall, pushing Neron down with him. He looked like a shooting star that had fallen from the sky. When they hit the ground it felt like an earthquake. She lost her footing more than slightly, falling back on her hand to catch herself, and then using it to push herself up quickly. She then proceeded to run to where the two dragons had made their crash landing, not checking to see if the others followed.

[»Míríel«]

A surge of satisfaction blazed through Neron, finally he felt the rage radiating from Damion. “Perfect” The speed of their descent increased greatly. “Of course…” Neron almost wanted to roll his eyes, “Now I am going to be smashed into the ground, I knew this was going too well.[/i]” All he could do was brace himself for the impact. It didn’t take long, Damion had picked up a good amount of speed. The pain that flooded him caused his ability to speak and see to go completely out, but he was still conscious. He couldn’t tell which hurt the most, his arm reacting to the sudden jar, or his body being smashed underneath the weight of Damion. ‘fool’ he thought to himself, ‘If you could have just switched to your human form it all would be over, all of it.’ “Blast it!” He muttered as his speech came back to him, this was also followed by a string of words that a sailor would be proud of. But these were curses in another language, his natural one.
“Try and make me gramps. You know I find it funny how you have fallen in love with your worst enemy.” His breathing had grown shallow under Damion’s weight. “Add bruised ribs to the list of injuries.” An evil smile came to his face, “At least Jaedon and me are alike in many ways.” His eyes tried to focus on the white blob in front of him, where was that popsicle’s face. “Which….means….” He strained to talk as the voices were starting to take over his mind. “…we…are” He let out a groan and thrashed his head against the ground, trying to silence them, “fit….for each…other.” He let out a growl as his eyes opened and dilated with rage, pain, and insanity. “And there is no way to stop me….unless I’m dead.” He gazed at Damion with half maddened eyes. “You know that.”
Ares saw Jaedon take off in a dead sprint toward the two. “I wouldn’t….” She was too far away to hear the rest so he turned to Miriel who had turned a shade paler at the sound of the dragons hitting the ground and she didn’t seem to stable. “Are you alright?”
I’m fine.” Miriel protested as she slapped away his hand that had come to steady her, but this threw her off balance and caused him to catch her.
“Well if that wasn’t the biggest fib I have ever heard. Here let me...” Grasping her by the arm he escorted her in the direction Jaedon had been running. Even though she was weak she kept urging him on, telling him not to go slow for her sake. So Ares picked up a good pace, one that covered ground but wouldn’t tax her too much.

[saerwen]

As Neron continued to talk Damion fought within himself, trying to cage the anger that Neron was building within him. It was too much…Too angry…Damion squeezed his eyes shut tightly trying very hard to get the painful words out of his head. “Fallen in love with your worst enemy”…That phrase caused everything within him that was controlled to snap. He let out an ear piercing roar as he swung his head away from Neron towards the lake. His roar drowned out some of what Neron said, but when it ended he heard the rest.
He couldn’t speak he was so vengeful, who knows what might have come out. He stared straight at Neron, taking in every word that he said, and when it came round to the end “Unless I’m dead…” So that is what the little rascal wanted. He wanted Damion to kill him. At first every instinct said to do it, in fact he started to raise his talons to strike at Nerons neck, which was perfectly in range, but then, he stopped himself. A cruelty that he had only pulled out every once in a blue moon came over him. He knew exactly what he would do. His voice was whispering, unnatural, like the voice one might imagine a demon to have. He got a little closer to Neron.
“Ah… I see now. I see what it is that you want.” He tightened his hold a little bit more. “You wanted me to kill you, didn’t you? You long for death, don’t you, demon?” he was very taunting, but his voice had no emotion, nothing. It was monotone. “You wanted me to wipe you off the face of this earth, right? I guess that hell’s servants do have a conscience…don’t they?” He pulled a little bit away, seeing Jaedon coming towards them out of the corner of his eye. “I won’t kill you. I would rather watch your damned corpse rot away on this earth in agony of an unknown kind. Despair, Neron, it must be a harsh place. I am glad that I have never known it.” With that, Damion released his hold on Neron, moved away, and then, slowly changed back into his skin, his wounds showing through where Neron had bitten him, but nothing really horrible. For the first time in his life, he smiled with the satisfaction of knowing that Neron was going to be in pain for a while, because Miriel would not be able to heal him. She would not be able to take it away. He went and sat down on the ground some ways away, and held his head with his hands. Now it was time to think.
Jaedon reached the two dragons right when Damion had finished talking. She was a little out of breath, and very frightened. She had heard the way that Damion had been talking to Neron. What had been said that made Damion sound like that? She stopped when she got there, unsure of what she should do… She was scared to approach Damion, and she knew that trying to talk to Neron would be useless.

[»Míríel«]

Neron barely heard what Damion said, but what he did completely caused everything to come crashing about him. ‘Weakling! Fool!” He nearly screamed out. He didn’t care that Jaedon was nearby, nor did he care that she was close. “Then it is out of your hands, you should have taken the opportunity when it presented itself.”
The feeling of despair filled his soul as he felt himself slipping away, perhaps he would be taken away anyways. “You should have done it, I should have died.” He couldn’t get his mind around it, why hadn’t Damion killed him. It didn’t make sense. Laying his head back down on the ground he tried to push away everything.
Miriel and Ares finally made it to where the others were. With her arm in his she paused for a moment, observing the scene. It was hard for her not to look at Damion first, and in the end she failed. He was sitting away from everyone, hands on his head, but once again all her emotion was wasted before, now she had none left. Her usually bright green eyes were faded and distant. Turning she looked at Neron, who seemed worse off. Pulling on Ares she walked over to the beast. “There you are. Are you alright Neron?”
Neron grunted and tried to turn from her but his arm caused a louder groan to come from him. “I’m just dandy.”
“ No you aren’t.” Her gaze turned to his arm. It was all bent the wrong way though it seemed that the bone hadn’t been broken all the way, a stroke of luck.
“I’m fine. ” Neron snapped back.”Leave me alone.”
Miriel sighed, this was all too familiar to her. The only way to get Neron to do what you wanted was to trap him into it. “Well, if you are so fine, why don’t you change back into your skin for me.”
“Will you leave me alone?” Neron grunted.
“Perhaps.”
Neron stayed still for a moment, this was going to be hard. With a sigh his body started to shift, but it was extremely painful for him. Broken and bruised bones didn’t like changing size. But it happened and there he was, blood coming from his wounds, his arm flopping uselessly at his side, a small figure in a bit of a crater. He looked even worse than before. His skin was as pale as the moon and his black hair stood at strange angles about him. Dark halos encircled his eyes which were bloodshot and pained. He was motionless.
Miriel nodded to Ares as she took her arm out of his, ‘Thank you Ares, for being there to help me and support me when I needed you.” Her eyes flashed to Damion before she focused back on Neron. His wounds were too extreme for her energy level, but she would have to try to best. A deep sadness filled her as she thought of everything that had happened, and the confused emotions started all over again. Drawing closer to him as she settled down by Neron’s outstretched form. Her hand reached out for his broken arm.
“Leave me alone Miriel. You are too weak.” Neron tried to twist way and get up but he couldn’t.
“Hush….I’ll…be fine.” Grasping his arm she laid it gently on the ground and studying it closely put her fingers in specific place. With a hard thrust she set the bone.
The pain was fresh for Neron. The setting the bone had been even worse than the breaking. It temporarily knocked him out. And as his head lolled to the side a word arose to his lips, “Don’t-”.
Miriel’s head bowed as tears started streaming down her face. But were they tears of anger, frustration, sadness, exhaustion, happiness, even she couldn’t tell you. They were just tears. Her hand lifted and she placed it once more on Neron’s arm. She would heal him if it was the last thing she did.

[saerwen]

Damion wasn’t really listening to anyone, or anything. He was wrestling with the feelings that welled up within his heart. Why had that whole fight taken place? Why couldn’t he have held his temper? What a fool he had been! The rage that had left him speechless and wondering was gone in an instant, and he was now pushing down the feelings that wanted to make him angry again. Then he heard what Neron had said. It pierced his heart, and he knew that the only reason why was because he was feeling so guilty. If he hadn’t lost his temper that whole fight wouldn’t have taken place and Neron’s life would have been much safer, and Miriel…Miriel would have continued to be her happy self. He couldn’t bear to look at her, not right now. He was so ashamed of how he had behaved…so ashamed.
Jaedon knew that everyone was either hurting or feeling miserable, and she hated it. All it reminded her of was…well, she didn’t have to think about that. She watched as Miriel walked over to Neron, and she heard what she had said, in a round about way of hurting poor Damion. She knew that right about now, Damion was feeling really upset with himself. He was so tender, and every time that he got angry it pulled him down so far. She hoped that he hadn’t really heard that. Her gaze then went to Neron, who was now struggling to change into his human skin. Miriel was going to heal him, she knew it. If Neron thought that changing into his skin would make her not heal him, then he was wrong. It would just make him easier to catch. She looked at Miriel, afraid of what healing Neron might do to her. Ares was closer, so if anything went bad he would be the one to pull Miriel away…if it ever occurred to him that something was wrong. This is when Miriel was going to need Damion the most, because she knew that Miriels power would force her to just keep going and going, and when it was too much, no one would pull her away but Damion, because Jaedon knew that if she touched Miriel, she would become powerless to do anything, and would start to feed the problem. She hoped that Damion got a hold of himself soon. Jaedon watched with a sense of dread as Miriel started to heal Neron, already having a slight amount of trouble getting started.

[»Míríel«]

Neron started to come back to his senses, but it was slow, soothing warmth was flooding through his arm, breaking through the numbness, but then it would stop before starting up again, teasing him. What was happening, his eyes cracked open but everything was fuzzy and unfocused. It took a while before he turned his head and his eyes finally focused on Miriel, who was kneeling beside him, tears streaming down her cheeks and hand on his arm. A look of frustration filled her face as she was gazing intently on her hand. Usually a glow would spring from it readily when she wanted to heal, but this time…this time it would start to glow, then stuttered then start once more. Finally a glow stayed put and her hand seemed to fade into whiteness on his arm. But he couldn’t shout out, couldn’t move, it was too late, her healing was starting and he could feel her energy start to flow within him.
Miriel gazed at her hand, it seemed to turn white, what a pretty color, it was so pure so innocent. Her eyes closed as she concentrated. The bone was starting to knit together, she could tell. But it was very weak, it didn’t want to join back. Her eyes opened as she felt something go wrong. She had had trouble starting to heal, but she had put that off to being tired, but this, this was different. Green eyes peered down at her hand, the bone had stopped knitting, it wasn’t working. Why was it being so stubborn? The world about her suddenly became quiet. Her eyes lifted and stared straight ahead. A moment passed, then another as she unconsciously leaned her weight on Neron’s hurt arm. Everything else about her started to be amplified, not people, not voices, not the animals about her, but the water, it seemed loud in her ears. Fear rose within her as another thing was amplified, her empty heart. Without having Damion by her side there was something missing. But how could she forgive him after this. She was torn with passions so strong but so opposite.
Neron could tell what was going on but his mouth didn’t seem to work. It would have remained immobile for a bit until Miriel leaned against his arm, it sent pain through it and with a cry of pain Neron found his lips unglued. “Miriel! Damion? Miriel stop!” He couldn’t do anything and he hated it. Every move he made, even with Miriel’s healing, caused him pain. Her healing was so weak right now, it barely did anything, but it still was a steady drain for her.
Miriel didn’t hear a voice, instead her head bowed as tears flowed from her eyes. Her mind was starting to short circuit, she was at wits end. As her eyes opened and she looked at her hand it was so white. Then everything she saw bleached to a pure, blinding white, and she fell over onto the ground.
Neron tried to get up to catch her but didn’t move fast enough. The pain of his wounds were forgotten as he straightened up. Her hand remained stuck to his arm, her fingers faintly glowing. “Ares, someone get her off of me.”
Ares had been shocked by everything, everything had moved so fast. He had been impressed by how Miriel had handled Neron and surprised that she had healing powers. Not knowing everyone that well besides Neron he hadn’t picked up the warning signs. When Neron cried out and asked for someone to help him Ares didn’t know what to do.

[saerwen]

Damion had been completely out of the world for a while. He had stayed inside his head, trying to fix what had been broken. He knew how to fix it, and knew that it wouldn’t take long. He dove into the problem and then started to mend it. The broken feelings, the anger that had seared his usual self, and the longing to protect all that he held dear, that was what he had to fix. He realized that Jaedon wasn’t the only thing that he had to protect now…He had Miriel, and he vowed that he would be there for her from now on, and that he would not fall into anger, as much as it might be begging him to. He would not give in, he was better than that, or at least, if he wasn’t now, he would become perfected, for Miriel, so that she wouldn’t ever have to relive a night like this all over again.
He had just fixed these thoughts firmly into his mind when he heard Neron call out. At the sound of ‘Miriel’ Damion’s eyes shot open, his head lifting quickly to see Miriel’s hand on Neron’s hurt arm, and Miriel quickly fading, it was obvious, her light… Damion jumped from his position and ran over to where Miriel was, trying desperately to get there in time to catch her, but he had wandered too far from her. He cursed himself and he slid to the ground next to Miriels crumpled body. He reached over her and pulled her hand, that was clenched to Neron’s arm, away, feeling her healing power turn its attention to him. It was hard for him to feel that heat…how it burned! When it was finally off of Neron’s arm, Damion grabbed Miriel in his arms, her unconscious figure seemed so light. Damion was on the verge of tears. He held her close and continued to say “I’m so sorry, Miriel, I am so sorry!” He was praying that she was alright.
Jaedon watched as Damion rushed over to stop the situation that had turned volatile just as she knew it would. She just stood there, watching as Damion pulled Miriel’s limp body off the ground and cradled it tenderly. And here you stand…Unable to do anything, unable to say anything, just like always. Jaedon just turned away, staring again to the lake. Her feet very slowly crept towards the cool black depths. She was not needed here, she could only bring death and what they needed was life. She could not provide that, and so she went to the edge of the lake, wishing to fade into the shadows.

[»Míríel«]

Neron watched as Damion cradled the limp form of Miriel in his arms. A great wanting filled his eyes, a longing for such love. Unconsciously his eyes drifted from the pair by him to the fading figure of Jaedon. What he had said before, to Damion, he had just been saying it because he knew it would push Damion’s buttons in the right order. Could there be any truth to what he said though? Turning he broke his gaze from where Jaedon was. Sitting upright he leaned forward and clutched his aching head. Neron knew that Miriel was in good hands, hands better than his. “Perhaps one day you will be like Damion..that’ll be the day.”
Miriel felt the whiteness about her start to fade and she could see figures and details around her. “What….what happened?” Her voice was shaky and weak and the light in her fingers died. Someone was holding her, and the face above her it was so familiar, but she couldn’t come with a name. ‘Where am I?” Then her eyebrows knit together for a moment as she studied the face above her. “Hair like snow, eyes like ice…you have kindness in your face…why do I feel so safe in your arms and why do I feel like I know you?” Her mind was trying to process everything but it was like gaps of memory was missing. It had faded. All of her speaking had been more thinking out loud for her than actually asking anything.
Neron nearly jumped out of his skin what had she said? Surely his ears had misheard, bloody voices in his head. His head turned and he looked at Damion to see whether what he had heard had truly been spoken.

[saerwen]

Damion was so relieved when Miriel opened her eyes. Thank goodness, she’s alright! He was inwardly celebrating for a few moments, a small and gentle smile spread across his face, until she started to speak. At first he took it all in stride, but it only got strange about midway. When she asked what had happened, he bowed his head a little and simply said, “That’s a long story, but I am sure you will remember eventually.” He was more than slightly abashed. When she asked where she was, Damion became a little more afraid, but he figured that having that much stress would probably send her through some loops. “You’re out at the lake, Miriel.” He was speaking very softly, still a little shameful. It was when she started describing him, and asking why she felt like she knew him that he became truly scared. His eyes widened slightly, but still trying to keep himself calm, he gave out a slight sigh. “You do know me, Miriel.” He spoke slowly, still trying to process everything in his own mind, wondering what had happened to poor Miriel. “You remember me, don’t you?” He looked steadily at her, but deep signs of worry were very evident in his eyes. He couldn’t get rid of them.
Jaedon turned slightly, she was just within hearing range. When she heard Miriel ask who Damion was, she was startled. She stopped right where she was, stood there very still for a moment, and then slowly turned to face Miriel and Damion. If Miriel didn’t remember Damion, then who would she remember? Would she remember Jaedon? Jaedon started to breathe faster, her heart starting to race. Miriel was her best friend, and if she didn’t remember Jaedon, then…What would she do?! She came back as quickly as possible and listened to what her response to Damion’s question was.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel’s gaze became confused for a moment as the man holding her asked whether she remembered him or not. Narrowing her eyes she tried to concentrate, what was it about him…where had she seen him before? Miriel knew that she probably had seen someone like him before or she remembered him because of his strange colored hair. “I’m not…sure.” A thought flashed in her mind, a distant memory. At first it was all fuzzy nothing seemed familiar, but then she remembered a coffee shop, the scents of the place, the feel, the relaxation. “He has to be a friend, a close one.” Her head tilted, the coffee shop memory was still very choppy, there were segments of the conversation that were completely blanked out. In fact, it was almost as if someone had censored all the bad scenes from her mind.
A slight smile crossed her face as a particular memory came to her. “I remember something about green tea and mint mixed together. It was some sort of concoction you had learned from a good friend. Sounds delightful, I do love mint.” Her lips puckered as she thought for a moment, “D- your name started with a D. What was it?” Her eyes closed and she got a distressed look on her face. “Why can’t I remember anything?”
Neron just sat there and stared. What had happened in Miriel’s mind? It was like she just snapped all of a sudden. Then his gaze turned to Damion, he was distressed and worried. Neron wondered what it must be like to have someone you care about suddenly not know who or what you were. But as Miriel started recalling a certain event with Damion, Neron started to get relieved, she was remembering things. Everything seemed to be going well until she couldn’t remember Damion’s name. This wasn’t good. Neron looked up at Jaedon, who was approaching toward the little group. Neron’s gaze showed confusion and shock, but also worry. What if Miriel didn’t know him, what if she didn’t remember ever meeting, what if it lasted for forever?
Ares stood there, feeling like a fifth wheel on a cart, useless and doing nothing . Truly there was nothing to do. He had only just met Miriel but even so he felt a closeness to her. It seemed like Miriel had that effect on everyone, as soon as you meet her you feel close to her and want to get to know her more. But now, now he wondered what type of Miriel he would get to know. If this was amnesia, how far back was she, or was she even back in her mind, what memories did she remember and which did she not? Hopefully she didn’t turn out to be some killer of some sort, that would not be a good thing.