-Sky's POV-
We make it back to the castle, slowly but carefully, and the female is exhausted from fighting with Jason. She waits until I've taken him into my arms, and lets go, sluggishly walking back to her warm corner of the main hall. I take him downstairs to the cell again, just to let him calm down. I have to cover the window sometimes for it, so I cover it up just in case. His rough behavior stops the second I close the window. He'd just been slamming his fists on the bars, and now he was totally silent.
I couldn't see what he was doing, so I assumed as I heard a scratching on the stone bricks. I could only guess he messed up his jacket sliding down the bricks to the floor. I teleported upstairs again to the main hall, and heard a surprised grunt from the alpha as I apparently landed smack dab in front of him. He pressed his nose against my arm, and he started to nudge me out of the way.
A garbled voice popped in my head. "Move brother. You stand in my path." "My bad. Pass." I stepped backwards, and he trotted along. I found my way to the female, and sat against her side. I asked her a few questions.
"What are you called?" A sweet, soft voice responded. "Delilah. I have met you before, pup. Name?" "Sky. I ran into another pack when I was little." "Ah. So you have met our kind before."
"By accident..." "Pup, there are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason." "But then why is Jason getting worse? We've put him in the best case scenario, and he's not responding." "Speak to him. Have you not noticed he is thinning out?" "Have you not noticed I'm blind? I can't see him. I don't even know what he looks like."
"Well, pup, we will have more in a few short months. We need space. Pup, we need much more space." "How much space?" "Enough to hold a new pack set plus a few." "You're having puppies?" "When am I not? Most wolf packs you see around here are my own."
"Well, we could go into the fantasy pocket, and let Preston and Jerome run free again... That would work. It's a very large area." "As long as it is not enclosed. My pups need space to grow." "Then that's what we do. I'll keep the pack here until you're ready." "Very well, Sky. We shall do just that." "Perfect."
We waited a few months, just a few short hours before Seto's birthday, and Delilah beelined for the front gate. I cab-whistled as I ran after her, and Sprite came galloping beside me. I leaped up, and caught his mane. I swung up on his back, and raced after Delilah. I led her to the pocket a half-mile away, and she laid down against a pine tree heavily, breathing hard.
"Pup, get me water." I took Sprite to the river, and gathered up some water like she asked. By the time I got back, I already heard slower, labored breathing. I was suddenly glad I was blind. I set the large water-filled energy bowl in front of her, and she thanked me.
I rubbed my hand down her face as this happened, and it helped her relax. A few hours, and it was done. I could hear tiny squeals, and felt a cold nose touch my hand. I drew my hand closer to this nose, and found a puppy there.
I pet it, and it warmed up to me right away. "If you wish to bring the fantasies home, do so now. It's simpler. But only the fantasies. No others." "Okay, Delilah. I'll get them." I teleported back.
"Jerome!" "Yeah?" "Wanna stretch your legs in the pocket?" "Sure! Gimme two seconds!"
I ran up the steps to Rob and Preston's room. I found Preston there, doing something random. "Preston, wanna stretch in the pocket?" "Yes... Can we go now?" "Yep. Give Jerome two seconds and we'll go."
I found Jerome's bouncy energy in the main hall near the doors. I grabbed his hand, as well as Preston's, and teleported back to Delilah in the pocket. Preston reacted immediately. "Oh mah god!!! Puppies! Yaaasssssss." "Be careful Preston."
Delilah growled slightly with Preston's rough approach. "Guys, go stretch now. Shoo." Jerome's heavy paw-steps receded from earshot quickly. Preston skipped along against the base of the trees. "That was dangerous, pup." "I know. Sorry about that. He's still young and learning." "The baby lava creeper needs to learn space. That's all."
"Baby? He's 12." "And? That only 2 in creeper years. They mature 6 times slower than most species in the world." "Oh..." "And that's 24 years behind wolves. We mature 4 times faster than most species. He's not even remotely close to a year in wolf years. He'll be 24 in human years before he's a year old to me." "So when he turns 24 in human years he'll be... 4 in creeper years?" "Exactly why he acts so childish."
"That makes sense now! He's not even child age. He's still a toddler! Okay... Then how does he look older and speak so well?"
"Lava creepers in specific are very intelligent creatures. They pick up language easy, and use it well. The way he looks...- the slow development is in the mind and half physically. Notice how he has looked the same for 5 years. He will rarely change."
"What about his human form? Will that change?" "Perhaps not. His hair may grow a little, but nothing else. Lava creepers don't develop much in their lives, so he may not change."
"What about Jerome?" "The Bacca? He grows like dogs and wolves do. A day for you is a month for him. He is older age already. He is already 60 years old. The immaturity is from the extended time as a human."
"Oh. I didn't know that." "Well, now you do pup." She nipped the heels of one puppy who was trying to crawl away. He turned back. I heard a rustling in the tree above me.
I pinned the energy, and found it was Jerome. He peered down from the treetops, and so I looked up. He apparently forgot I can't see, and ducked back. I teleported behind him, and he panicked. "What the- Sky!"
"Jerome. I think you forgot I seriously can't see you. Remember? Broke my sunglasses? Anything?" "Oh yeah. Sorry. Wait. How did you-?" "I can still find you with your energy. I'm not completely unaware of you." "Oh yeah." "How you enjoying being back?"
"It's a little disheartening to pass the house, but I've kept away for the most part. But I'm still enjoying it." "You still miss them?" "Forever, dude. Forever and always. I never don't miss them." "Well, get moving, bac. Find Preston and tell him we leave in a few hours." "Got it. He's kinda in a trance though..."
"What? Where?" "In a meadow a few miles away. It's still in the pocket, but it's... I don't know." "Lead me to him." "Okay... One sec."
He dashed away across the treetops. A few minutes, and he stopped. He was a good 3 miles away, so I teleported. "He's right over there. To the east- in the center of the meadow." I locked onto Preston's energy, and followed that as my guide. I could feel the heat being generated by his skin, and it was intense.
I touched his shoulder, and he flinched. "Sky?" "Yeah, Preston?" "This is my home. At least, it was..." "What ever happened to your parents?"
"They were... They were killed a few days after I was born. In front of me." "Oh, Preston..." "It- I didn't know what to do. It was so bad for me, and I didn't understand. I wasn't even a month old, and they just... Died."
"What actually happened?" He walked to a cove with a strong, agonizingly sad energy to it. "I was in here, my actual home, and my dad... I didn't know him. My mom, however, never came home one day. I could hear humans screaming in the meadow around me.
I kept quiet and hid, but someone found me, and pulled me out. I was 3 in human years then. I wasn't even a year old in my own time. They pulled me into the bright sunlight, and dropped me carelessly in the meadow grass. Someone else tied me down, and next thing I knew, I was in a cage in a horse-drawn carriage. It was terrifying.
I- I wanted to escape, but had never seen a cage. I didn't understand. I was in a situation unknown to me, and now I've been humanized. My language has slowly slipped away, but I've still got it. My mom told me one thing and one thing daily. We are a rare species.
You can't find many of us, and when you do, most will kill us. It is unknown why, but we are killed when discovered. And now I'm wondering. If they killed us on sight, how did I live through all I did? And why did no one kill me?"
"I don't know Preston, but be glad you aren't dead." "I am, but like, how did they not think to kill me if I'm like, valuable or something?" "That might be why. You're valuable to anyone to find and capture you. But you are priceless and very precious to Rob, and no one can take you away from us."
"Thank you Sky." "No problem, Preston. Just relax." "But Sky, the people who took me and Rob, they separated us. They said I'd be forced away from him, and that his choice was frowned upon. Why is it frowned upon?" "Because it's always been said that the queen has to be a human girl, and you are neither. You are a male fantasy. There's a huge difference to upset other royal families."
"But then, why did Rob react so savagely?" "He did?" "Yeah. He attacked the bars and yelled at the guy." "It's possible that he never enjoyed the thought." "Probably, okay."
"Preston, where is your mother now?" "Dead, and I don't know where she'd be if she wasn't." "Well, first off, if she was still alive, I'd probably have never met you." "Yeah... She was very strict about my exposure."
"Exposure? Like, being in the open?" "Yeah. I went out once, and was yelled at and brought back inside." "Maybe she didn't want you getting hurt." "That's exactly right."
He ducked into the cove, and sat on the floor. I felt Jerome come up behind me, and I sat in front of Preston. "Are you okay?" "Yeah... Yeah I'm fine. It's just upsetting to think of."
"I can only imagine. Your situation was just as bad as my own. But people actually tried to kill me. Those who found you did not." "They did drag me painfully out of the pocket for a while..." "They what?! Preston! Why didn't you say so!" "I didn't think it was important." "Preston that's bad."
"Why?" "You were taken from the pocket." "And?" "Well, let's get one thing straight. Did it hurt you?" "Leaving? Yeah. It was agony. Why?!"
"That's why it's bad. Leaving the pocket without permission is painful, and if you've been forced out, I'm surprised you got back in." "But I wasn't taken out by the pocket. I was taken out by humans. People, if you want. They took me against my will. I didn't want to leave."
"We'll sort this out later. We gotta go back before Rob and Mitch die of separation anxiety."