Feral: Days of Darkness

Chapter 6: Bloodshed at Blood Tundra

Emerald had done it. He had finally recreated the power he had used yesterday. Taking advantage, Emerald attempted to use his Spark to lower Ruby down gently. And it did.
Emerald then stopped concentrating and his Spark dimmed down, causing the vines to retract back underground.
"Emerald! You did it again!" Ruby exclaimed in happiness, jumping onto him, throwing him on his back. She snuggled against him.
"I... I DID do it?"
"Emerald, that was splendid!" Praised Delilah.
"Such promising potential, not seen anywhere else on Feral!" Aradia applauded.
Ruby got off of him, and Emerald got on his feet. Emerald ran over to the potted plant and tried again. He focused as hard as he could... and...
The plant grew slightly, and suddenly bloomed a single, pretty flower. Emerald was amazed. He tried to summon vines out of the plant, and... a single, short one grew. "I can do it, to an extent. I can only summon small plants for now."
Delilah was amazed. "Amazing! A new discovery among the power of Sparks! It seemed that your Spark reacted to Ruby being in mortal danger, and did whatever it could to protect her."
"Despite this, this is still a major leap. Just knowing that you can control it slightly is excellent progress. This ability to, manipulate nature appears only as a 'reflex' to certain events. It seems to require more focus to force it to do certain actions, though." Aradia hypothesized.
"Good job, Emerald." Ruby congratulated.
Emerald smiled in relief, knowing this could very much be a major step in saving Feral. Emerald turned around, and saw Azure dropping his jaw in disbelief. He also dropped the notepad he had. "That. Was. AWESOME!" His screams of disbelief echoed throughout the hall.
"Who, uh, is that?" Aradia asked.
"That's just Azure. He's very much like that." Ruby answered.
Azure ran up and grabbed Emerald up high. "Look at you, you little earthbender! You CAN move plants!" Azure laughed heartily and crush-hugged Emerald.
"PL-PL-PLEASE AZ...!" Emerald choked.
"Sorry." Azure dropped him. He noticed the two queens and paused. "Hello." Delilah greeted.
"Oh by the name of wildworks." Azure then bowed deeply. "O GREAT QUEENS, HEAR ME! DO NOT PUNISH EMERALD FOR USING MAGIC HE CANNOT CONTROL! TAKE ME INSTEAD! HE DOESN'T DESERVE-"
Emerald patted him. "Whoa whoa whoa, hey Az, calm down. No one's punishing anyone here. The queens were helping me to try and use this power."
Azure exhaled a deep sigh of relief. "Oh thank the stars. And, uh.. good job, E." Azure patted Emerald on the back.
"Emerald? Do not stop trying. We hope you can push this hidden power of yours to its furthest. You are excused." Aradia dismissed them.
The three bowed. "Thank you, Your highnesses. I won't fail!" Emerald assured as they left. They left the training hall.
The two chuckled and smiled. "I told you he was cute, Ara."
"Yes, his determination and resolve are what we need. Now, we give the Dark Sparks something for."

Meanwhile, back in Emerald and Ruby's room, the pink senri, plus Azure and Olivia watched Emerald try to work his magic on a potted plant. They all observed in silence, as Emerald laid on his stomach, his eyes shut tightly as he tried his hardest.
Emerald's Spark glowed slightly as he tried. No noise was made, except for a sound coming from the shining gem on Emerald's forehead. After a bit, the plant grew an extra stem, which then bloomed a beautiful blue flower. Emerald opened his eyes. "Ha! Yes."
Everyone is the room reacted positively to that. "Ooh, pretty." Olivia said.
Emerald closed his eyes again, and his Spark began glowing once more. The plant then began growing in size and blooming more flowers, one of which flew off. I looked like it was gliding in the wind, despite there being no wind. Nevertheless, the flower flew onto Olivia's snout. She looked right at it and smiled. "That's so cool, Mr. Emerald!"
Emerald tried to continue manipulating the flower, but stopped and looked exhausted. "Emerald? You okay?" Ruby concerned.
"I'm fine, its only taking a small toll on me. Phew..."
Azure yawned and stood up. "Okay, Olivia. E looks tired. Besides, it's time for lunch rations."
Olivia looked excited. "Eee! Meat and potato soup! Race you, Mr. Azure!" Olivia ran as fast as she could with her wheelchair out of the room.
Azure followed to catch up with her. "Bet I can beat you there!" Azure laughed as he ran off and closed the door behind him.
Ruby chuckled at them. "Despite her condition, Olivia has the highest spirits imaginable. Right E-"
Emerald was asleep. Forcing his Spark to do certain actions took a toll on him. He was exhausted. Ruby jumped down off the bed and sat next to him. "Are you Okay?"
Emerald raised his head and opened his eyes. "Yes, I'm fine. Using your mind to an extent you never thought possible is surprisingly tiring."
"So if you can use nature... is there anything else you can utilize?" Ruby curiously asked.
"Not as far as I'm aware. It would be a lot cooler to use fire in my opinion."
"Pfft. You can't create beautiful blossoms with fire. Nature is better for me."
"Hmm. True."
Suddenly, Emerald remembered something. He looked into his pouch sitting in the corner. He walked up to it and rummaged through it. Suddenly, Ruby remembered something herself, and got to her pouch to rummage through it.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"Remember what happened at Centuria that afternoon?"
"I wish I couldn't. Witnessing all the-"
"No, before that."
"Oh. Yeah?"
Ruby turned around hiding something on her back. When she turned around, she found Emerald holding something on his extended outward paw. It was a necklace, that looked part ruby, part emerald.
"The emerald in this... my mother gave it to me. She said to me, that, when I grow up, to give it to the one I would want spent the rest of my life with. To the one I would love the most. To give to her as a reminder of who loves her forever without condition when she is alone. When I met you, Ruby, I added the ruby into it, as a hope that...
that I would never leave you."
She was admired by the beauty of the necklace. The thought, care, and love Emerald put into it.
"I meant to give it to you back at Centuria. But then, this whole thing happened, and..."
"Emerald. I have something too." Ruby said. To Emerald's surprise, she had something almost similar to his gift. A ruby necklace, with emerald integrated into it. "My friend gave this ruby. She hopes for me too be with someone I would want to be with until my dying days. I have held onto it ever since. When I met you, Emerald, I gave it an emerald to represent you. It was meant to symbolize me wanting to stay by side forever and for as long as we lived."
Emerald admired it. He wasn't that much into jewelry before, but seeing how long she had prepared for this moment, he he loved it.
"I wanted to give it to you long before that afternoon at Centuria, but I... hid my feelings. I didn't want to immediately leap to far and cross a line uncrossable. I didn't want to take a risk." Ruby admitted.
"Looks like I took that risk for you yesterday. I, myself, didn't have confidence when I confessed to you. I was worried that you would..." Emerald said.
"You really thought that, you green softie? Seriously?" Ruby jokingly asked.
The two then swapped their gifts. A perfect fit for them, respectively.
"It's... it's... it's perfect, Emerald."
"Your gift is the second best thing I have, Ruby."
Ruby perked up her head. "Second best? What's the first?"
Emerald put his paw on her back. "You are. You are the greatest thing this world has gifted me."
"Emerald..."
"I know we've told each other this a hundred times, but..."
"We have, haven't we. But that just shows how much we care for each other."
The two smiled at each other and leaned in towards each other. They then exchanged the most loving kiss yet.
"I love you." The two said simultaneously.