I really love these! Your writing is excellent and I really enjoyed reading all the stories, expeically the time traveling one. I enjoyed the subtle 4th breaking in it ;)

Can't wait to see more ^^

Consequences

A hand reached up and caressed the bloodied skin of Siris as his skin faded from the dark charcoal black. He couldn’t take his eyes off of his dear friend who sat there in front of him, seams tearing from the skin, bloodied and struck through. For the first time in who knows how long, he could feel the rage run cold into an icy fear, thinking he may lose his only friend. It was a familiar feeling, one he could not place an origin to, but he hated it nonetheless.

“Siris,” Reiji rasped out past bloodied coughs, “why are you crying?”

His breath caught in the back of his throat as he shakily brought a hand up to touch his face, and sure enough, mixed with the blood tears coated his fingers. He hadn’t even realized he was crying; didn’t even know he was capable of it anymore. He just let his hand fall back to the floor next to him and dragged his eyes back down to the several spears protruding through Reiji’s chest and abdomen. The spears that were meant for him, not his friend.

Siris opened his mouth to speak, but instead choked out a very loud sob as he bowed his head forward. Reiji’s hand still lightly caressed his cheek as he looked down at the burn-scarred dirt beneath them, and for once he didn’t pull back in disgust; he couldn’t pull away.

“Why,” he was finally able to sob out, not having the strength in him to look back up.

“Why-” Reiji was cut off by violent sputtering coughs as he tried to speak, causing Siris’s head to snap back up in worry. His hand came back up to try and do something to alleviate the coughs, but he couldn’t think of anything to help, so it just hovered motionless, useless, in the air near Reiji. “Why what?” he finally sputtered out after his coughing eased away.

“Why did you protect me?” Siris’s voice cracked at the words as more tears fell down his cheeks and dripped down to the earth below.

Reiji just gave a bloody smile and leaned forward to bump heads with his friend and closed his eyes. Siris closed his eyes as well and placed a hand over Reiji’s at his cheek, feeling the coldness of his skin. He was always cold, but now he felt even more so, if that was even possible.

“Please,” he sobbed harder, his shoulders shaking now due to the sobs wracking his body, “Why did you protect me?”

“That’s…” he paused taking in a raspy breath, “what friends do,” he chuckled hollowly before giving way into more, weaker, coughs. Siris couldn’t do anything but weakly bring his arm around his weakening friend in some semblance of a hug. He needed an anchor to make him stay put; to keep him from flying off the rails again like minutes before.

“Friends are supposed to stay together,” he cried out, “friends are supposed to have each other's backs not take the brunt of everything,” he all but screamed now. He got no reply. He could not hear his friend at all, no wheezing, no breathing, and no beating heart. Reiji fell slack against him, his head lulling to the side and thumping softly onto Siris’s shoulder, and his hand slipping out from under Siris’s and falling to the floor. Reiji had once again died. Siris was once again alone.

“He’ll be back.” a feminine voice spoke out from behind him.

Siris did not turn to look and only stared forward, clutching the body of Reiji tight; his tears finally starting to subside as his horn stretched out from under his skin again. His tail thrashed violently behind him as his eyes darkened into crimson once more. “But those who took him won’t live to see it,” he hissed out, finally getting back up to his feet after laying Reiji gently to the side.

Fall From Grace

It is said that the worst place for an avian is the ground. The ground is where the humans can chain you down and take from you the freedom your wings bring. The ground is as good as a death sentence. The ground was fast approaching for Ace.

It had been such a great day before he decided it was a great idea to take to the sky so he could stretch his wings. It was an idea planted into his head by both his brother and by Soup. God, he hoped Soup wasn’t waiting for him on the roof like he usually did, he didn’t want him to see his fall. He was already in a lot of pain with the wind ripping through his feathers, having the added weight of his husband’s horror was not something he needed.

His gaze wandered over to the mass of black feathers that was his right wing, wishing desperately for it to be able to open. The wind screamed around him, daggers of ice nicking his skin, setting his nerves ablaze.

He had to flip. Turn so the wind would catch his feathers, let him glide. He had to try. And try he did.

A cry fell from his lips, carried off by the current, but he willed himself to tuck his wings in and use the upwards drafts to flip him so he could see his impending death. It felt worse seeing how close he was to his deathbed, having fallen from so high, nearly touching the sky when iron ripped through his wings. He can still remember the feeling of the bullets ripping through his shoulder and feathers. The searing pain as his ascent was halted and turned to his descent.

He couldn’t focus on that, despite wanting to, and had to focus on opening his wings so he could glide to safety. Get to the ground. Be safe for Soup. Don’t die.

He willed them open, the pain bearing down on him and washing his vision over in white for a moment. It was hard to hear anything with the blood and wind rushing through his ears. It was like static. Until his name broke through the white noise.

“Ace!”

He opened his eyes – when had he closed them – and looked over to see the one man he did not wish to see; Soup. His concentration faltered. He plummeted. Down, down, down he went, until a railing caught him.

The first impact should have killed him, but his earlier stop and his durability made it so he could feel his ribs breaking instead. The metal creaked and groaned under his sudden weight before he fell away into another small descent. He didn’t even have the strength to try and save himself as he collided with the next railing. He could hear the crunch of something paired with the groan and snap of metal as he plummeted to the concrete below.

He landed on his side, knocking the wind out of him, and knocking him out for a split second as his mind tried to register what happened. He wasn’t dead, but he was close to it, it was hard to breathe.

It felt as if he couldn’t pull in enough air, no matter what he did, and his ears rang with the blood rushing through him. Why couldn’t he breathe? He pushed himself to look down and found his answer staring at him in the form of a rusted railing piece stuck through his sternum.

A whimper fell from his lips, wet with blood bubbling up in his throat which in turn forced a cough up. He convulsed and sputtered, spilling blood from his injuries and his mouth as pain finally ripped through him.

“ACE!” He heard his name being screamed followed by rapid footfalls. He knew that voice, he desperately wished he could comfort him, get rid of the terror he could hear in Soup’s voice. He couldn’t though, too much pain was coursing through him, threatening to shut his entire body down and send him to sleep.

“Ace, Ace pleasepleaseplease nononono,” he could hear Soup practically sobbing as he rushed over next to him. He couldn’t do anything but weakly reach out for him, even if the movement made his chest protest. “I’m here! I’m here! Don’t leave me-”

Ace felt his hand clasped between both of Soup’s and he finally did his best to look up at the other and he almost wished he hadn’t. He looked wrecked with messy hair, teary eyes and a face that was simultaneously red and pale at the same time. God, he looked terrified, and Ace knew it was all his fault; above all he knew he couldn’t help. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t comfort him or tell him it’d be okay, because he knew it wasn’t going to be.

He lightly squeezed Soup’s hand, pulling his attention from the bar in his chest to his face. Whatever he saw though Ace was certain it wasn’t good because of how the tears fell faster.

“Ace,” Soup sobs pulling his hands from Ace’s and moving to bring his upper torso up into his lap, “don’t...leave me...please. It-it's not...fair.”

The movement is enough to put Ace into another spasm fit making him cough and spit out more blood. A red pool is already forming below him from where the bar is going through his back, giving blood an easy out through the twisted nature of the old railing. He could feel his erratic heartbeat in his fingers as he reached out again to try and touch Soup, but it was hard to lift his arm.

He felt weak. He felt tired.

“No nono no, don’t close your eyes!” He could hear Soup cry above him. Was he closing his eyes? He didn’t notice. All he could feel was how his heart raced in his chest, it was scary. Everything was scary.

He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t calm his heart, or heal past the metal embedded in him. He felt cold and yet he could feel sweat rolling down his face, or maybe those were tears, he couldn’t tell. It was getting hard to focus. He forced himself to look up at Soup and noticed he was saying something, maybe he had been talking the entire time. It was hard to make out the words through the ringing in his ears.

“Ple..ase...I love..you...don’t- don’t leave me,” Soup sobbed over him, pressing a wet kiss to his head causing Ace to whimper again in pain and grief.

“S...So..up,” He finally mustered out through the pain and his erratic breathing, he could barely get air into his lungs at this point, but he didn’t care, “sh..hhh shh.... do..dun’cry,” he’d slur out, his vision hazing around the edges now.

“Nonono shhh don’t talk,” Soup whispers quickly stroking Ace’s cheek with his shaking hand, trying to not scream, “conserve strength...you’ll heal...you always heal.”

If this was any normal injury he’d heal, but with the bar still going through him, and the height of the fall there was no way he was going to come back from this. Everything had its limits, and this was his. He hated that it was, but he couldn’t lie to himself, not when he could feel himself slipping.

He shook his head, “Mmn’I...l.. Lo..ve... you,” he whispers wettly through the blood that was pooling in his throat choking him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to talk past that point, all he could do was listen. Listen to the wrecked sobbing of his lover above him, to his begs and pleads for him to stop closing his eyes.

Then there was nothing. No choked breaths, no erratic heartbeat, no pain.

Nothing.

Into The Fog

Fog is something that most people either hate or like, it really depends on the personality. It can make for some pretty cool pictures, drawings, or an atmosphere for exploring, especially if the fog is normal and not creeping into your safe space. Not when it’s keeping you from leaving your home and town. And not when people never come back out of it.

A small town where everyone knows everyone gets very tiring very quickly the longer you stay and the older you get, but it’s even worse when there is no safe option to leave. Most small towns have the option to leave to find greener pastures and invigorating adventures but not Ravens Creek. Well to put it bluntly, not for Ravens Creek or any of the other towns that had to deal with this fog, but the other towns were already swallowed.

At first, it was the daredevil kids who went in, and they never came back, most thought they just didn’t want to come back. Then it was the conspiracy theorist group of the town, and they never came back, that started rumors. Then more daredevils went in and when they didn’t come back fear spread. The paranoid stayed behind but even they started disappearing until now when there are about a dozen or so people left. All they do though is wander the streets helplessly and stare into the encroaching fog, if I’m lucky I can see someone finally go in, it’s quite sad really.

What makes the fog worse is that even though no one comes back there is no sound from them entering it. No screams, no voices, no animals, nothing just silence. But sooner or later Ravens Creek will be swallowed and I’ll soon know what is in the fog too, but I don’t wanna walk into it. I’m not brave enough for that.

The fog just creeps along, unhindered by the buildings or wind, oh look there goes the librarian. Guess I can keep the books I keep forgetting to bring back.

Watching the fog is boring so sleeping is the only pass time now that very few people are around. School stopped maybe a few months ago when half the teachers went into the fog, the internet cut out as well around that time. Have you ever seen a town filled with teenagers without the internet? It’s not a fun time. Most dove into the fog when they couldn’t handle it.

It’s a sad connotation when you really think about it.

I try not to think about it.

I know my time is coming quick to join the fog.

I can feel the cold air fill my room as I drift off when the fog finally comes to my home in the top apartment abandoned by my former neighbors. They left at the very beginning, curious as to what the fog was, never to come back. Their house was a nice upgrade.

When I woke up the room was filled with fog and looking outside, or at least trying to, had the same gray haze of fog. Everything was silent…so silent…it was deafening.

Walking down the stairs to the building entrance was a hassle without the ability to see very far in front of me. I even nearly fell down the stairs- twice.

Walking out into the fog didn’t help with the silence, everything was so quiet, and the air felt heavy. I kind of wished I stayed asleep instead, but instead I ventured further into the fog since I was already in it. Maybe I’d find someone else.

Spoiler. I didn’t.

Well, no one alive that is.

But, at least now I figured out why no one came back.