IP: 66.208.250.154
Posted on July 22, 2014 at 04:25:15 AM by DANNY
It had been another endless day in a week that seemed to stretch on forever, and Danny's steps were weighted with exhaustion as he and Sol made their way through the Commune. They did not talk, as they usually did, and even Sol's steps seemed slow and heavy as if he dreaded the place they were heading. Truth be told, he did dread it, though he would never say such things aloud in Danny's presence. Sol was a happy creature by nature, always brimming with joy and life and goodwill, and the graveyard often seemed to be the opposite of everything he was at his core. It had been hard to watch Danny sit at his father's grave and talk to the stone, feeling Danny's pain and grief and how badly he missed Castiel, but it was somehow worse, somehow harder, to watch him visit Elle's grave now as well. Their empathic link was severed by the Ancient Creature, but Sol needed no magic to see the pain and misery on his boy's face. For what had to be the thousandth time that day, Solarius' mouth fell open to expel a single sentence, but just as it had before, no sound issued forth. Even had he brought himself to say the words, to ask Danny to postpone their visit for a night, he knew it wouldn't do either of them any good. Danny would turn right around and start for home, because he was not the sort of boy to ignore his familiar's wishes when it came to such things, but he would still return the following day.
At long last - the trek from the clinic to the Commune was not a very quick one even under ideal circumstances - they arrived at the small graveyard where Elle rested. Danny knelt at her gravestone, gently removing the weeds that had begun to sprout there and replacing them with the small fistful of slightly wilted flowers he'd plucked along the way. Then, as he usually did, Danny sat back on his heels and began to talk. Sol curled up nearby, slowly lulled to a comfortable state of half-sleep by the boy's rhythmic voice; they'd had a particularly busy day at the clinic and Danny's voice was animated as he regaled Elle with "The Story of the Man with the Dog". Sol's rounded ears twitched at the boy's soft laugh, inordinately pleased by even that small sign that Danny was healing slowly but surely. They stayed there an hour, maybe a bit more, until Danny at last got to his feet. As he usually did, Danny pressed his hand to Elle's marker and smiled a sad sort of smile. "See you again soon, Elle," he promised. "C'mon, Sol, it's time to head- Ooof!" Solarius, who had been slowly getting to his feet, jumped at Danny's exclamation and was startled to see the boy suddenly flat on his back. Something dark was on his chest and Sol, for one paralyzing moment, thought it was a pool of blood before he noticed it twitch. Groaning in pain, Danny slowly sat up as the tiger hurried over to his side. Danny cupped the creature that had collided with his chest, a young but rather large owl, in gentle hands. "Watch where you're going, little friend," Danny said, then gasped as the bird twitched again in his palms. His back bore a long, deep gash that had nearly severed the poor thing's wing. It was amazing it had been able to move at all, let alone fast enough to knock Danny flat. Danny felt the bird's heart thudding beneath his fingers and, even knowing at any second he might be savaged by its sharp talon or beak, gently probed the wound. It was a bad one, but the bird could still be saved - might even be able to fly again someday - if they got to help soon. Danny shrugged off his over shirt, gently wrapping it around the bird to keep it still and, if they were lucky, help to slow the bleeding a bit. With Sol's help, Danny got to his feet once again. It was then, just as they'd finally thought the situation was under control, that they heard it. Someone, or something, moving in the darkness, originating from the direction the owl had flown from. The owl shivered in fear, pressing itself against Danny's chest even though it caused it pain to do so. A howl, some unearthly sound that caused both boy and tiger's hair to stand on end, rose from the shadows. Yelping in terror, Danny held the owl tight against his chest and took off for the nearest cabin with Sol hot on his heels. Heavy breathing and pounding steps of some massive, angry creature followed them, pushing them beyond their physical limits until they fell in a pile on someone's porch. Desperate to get away from the monster, whatever it was, Danny pounded on the door with his free hand. "Help! Help! There's something out here!" he cried. Sol backed up a few steps, his expression set. If they weren't going to open the door, he was going to open it for them! |
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