Even though we’ve been expecting it, when Yang does open his eyes, it makes us jump, Ash falling backwards onto the hard stone.
“R-r-ryu-” He’s so startled he can barely get his words out. “Ryu? Oh t-thank Creatia, it worked. B-but-” I tilt my head, my brown hair falling across my shoulder.
“Why did I drag you into the Lightwell? Because you had run out of energy, Yang.” It’s only now that I notice the dark circles under his eyes. “...Did you sleep? At all? Yang, you could’ve died. What if you didn’t have enough energy to get to the outside of the teleport?” His eyes refocus, and he shakes his head vigorously, a blush spreading across his face. “Yang!! Wha- what’re you thinking about that’s making you go that red?!”
“U-uhm… S-sorry, Ryu… I didn’t mean to…” I close my eyes and sigh.
“Well, so long as you remember that this relationship remains purely platonic.” He nods, almost looking sad.
“Yep.” I clamber out of the pool, spreading my wings and shaking the last of the light water off of them, though the moisture still attaches to them. Suppose they’ll be wet for a while. Ash hops onto my shoulder, and a thought jumps to my mind. What happened to Aris?
Then Liam floods my mind again. Oh, no…
Whatever just happened falls off the building of my sanity and the thought of Liam overwhelms me again, and I collapse in a fit of tears. Again.
Why does this happen? Every time? I spent three years destroying Slugterra, I must have caused the deaths of thousands of people. So why does Liam’s death hit so hard?
I feel a hand on my shoulder that I want to shake off, but at this point it doesn’t really matter what I do. “Liam…gone…”
“Yeah. I know.”
“And there’s nothing we can do about it…”
I expected a more solemn reply from Yang, something more consoling. I didn’t expect him to reply “Exactly what do you mean nothing?”
My eyes emptily blink at him. “Can’t bring him back to life, that’s what I mean. Even Lyth can’t do that.”
“Healing’s not what I mean. Remember what I said about the World Slugs? About the Elemental of Time, Kronos?”
“I guess…what about him?”
Yang squats down at the side of the Lightwell and goes, “Well…”
YOU ARE READING
Corruption
FanfictionThree years after the Elementals made their resurgence, the New Shane Gang put a long-standing plan into action to free Ryuno from the Goon. After spending an extended period of time imbued with Dark energy, however, can Ryuno survive long enough fo...
