SpytteFyre

SpytteFyre #1450225
Retired Breeder - Mate of Mylkyway

He would always remember his first day in his new home.

Or rather, his first day away from the wretched excuse he’d had for an old home.

His heart ached for Mylkyway, for the sorrow she seemed to feel whenever she remembered her old family in the mountains, but he’d never be able to understand it. Everything she longed to have back, he longed to forget.

Family. The word was bitter to him, even after long years away from it. After some time of talking to Mylkyway, he’d realized that to her, family was a beautiful thing. It was longer before he realized that maybe family was beautiful to most, and that his childhood was a cruel anomaly of fate.

“Fyre, I don’t understand,” Mylkyway said, almost nervously. “How could I have saved your life?”

SpytteFyre let out a slow breath. “You know that I ran away from my… family… in the wastes.” His parents didn’t deserve to be called ‘family.’

“Yes, I do. What about it?”

And so he told her, letting his memories take hold.

He lay against a tree, his head pounding, his mouth painfully dry. The edge of the forest seemed peaceful, at least. It would be a good place to die.

He’d been walking for days, with no sign of water anywhere. He couldn’t have borne another day in his home with all the screaming, the cursing, the anger that fractured his family; he couldn’t have managed another day of listening to his siblings crying from hunger, or of listening to his littlest sister’s coughing growing ever weaker as she succumbed to the sickness that their parents refused to bother treating. He couldn’t help them--he was only another mouth to feed, and even his best efforts to find food for his siblings came up with less than he himself needed. And so, like a coward, he’d run, desperate to put as much distance as he could between himself and that horrible place.

But SpytteFyre was horribly unprepared for his journey--and really, how could he have prepared? He had no destination; he only knew that he was trying to get away. ‘Away’ wasn’t a place. There was no way to mark it on a map. He had no idea where he was going, and at this point, he had no idea where he was.

He sank a little lower, his breathing ragged and painful. He’d barely eaten, only managing to scrounge up a few mouthfuls here and there; he hadn’t found water at all. The thirst had taken its toll. His energy was nearly spent.

He was going to die, then--die alone, under a tree, in the middle of nowhere. His eyes fluttered shut. At least it was peaceful here. Quiet, and not so hot, and—

“Help!” a desperate voice shrieked, the sheer terror in it making SpytteFyre jolt up. “Help! Please, anyone, help!”

A new strength came to him; he pried himself to his feet, cautiously approaching the voice. Who could be out here?

And then the voice screamed, and he gave up caution, running headlong through the forest. “I’m coming!” he called, crashing through a tangle of bramble and skidding to a halt in a clearing.

There, in the clearing, was a beautiful young Tundra, but SpytteFyre barely noticed her. How could he focus on her when there was a giant serpent wrapping its way around her, constricting her in its coils?

“I remember that,” Mylkyway shuddered. “Please, I—I don’t want to think about that part.”

SpytteFyre nodded, pulling her closer with his wing, letting the moment of memory pass away. “Even though I... saved you then… you’d already saved me. You got me off the ground, when I thought I was a goner. We found water together, remember? And you helped me find food.”

“You fought the snake away.”

“I—Mylky, I was ready to give up. I had given up. You gave me someone to fight for.” He let out a shaky breath. “So whenever you say you’re glad you met me, know that I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t met you.”

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. “Fyre, I… I love you so much.”

“I love you too. And I will never stop being glad I met you.”

She snuggled closer, and he lay back, closing his eyes. The cool wind stirred his fur, but he was warm—he was safe, and he was alive, and he had the love of his life next to him.

Life was good.

Written by liramyne(385203)