Little Talks (Dragonfly #7)

But Our Story Doesn't End There

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Zara
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When I woke up, Zach was gone, but Jay was here so I was strangely okay with.

The sunlight shone brightly down on the clearing, my head hurt and one of my eyes was swollen shut. Jay was whispering quietly to me as he tended to my injuries. I had a leaf and poultice over the eye, I realized, it wasn't swollen.

"Is... what's going on?" I had been dimply aware of what was going on, and I didn't want it to be just a dream.

Jay's ears perked up happily at the sound of my voice. "It's okay, Tenebris is dead. We won Zara."

I blinked rapidly. "R-really?"

I don't know what I expected, it felt great but I guess... I guess I had expected Zach to be here for this moment. I had last time.

Beside me, Jelu shifted and woke up. Slowly at first, then he gasped and tired to sit up, Jay put a paw firmly down on his shoulder. Jelu groaned in annoyance.

"Jay! Oh Zara's here? What happened? Where's Tenebris?" He glanced around wildly.

"Dead. It's okay." Jay assured.

Jelu's eyes widened. "Dead? What happened?"

"I... I don't really know honestly. I think it had something to do with Xanthos?" Jay explained.

I looked around for him, I hadn't seen Xanthos in a while, I missed him. I spotted him kneeling in the clearing. I stood up shakily, found I could walk without pain, and made my way over to him. Behind me I could hear Jelu screeching in protest.

"Hey." I greeted.

Xanthos looked up, then smiled, he looked older. "Hey, I'm you're okay."

"Me too."

The was a short silence before he sighed.

"Did you know my dad was in there the whole time? He... he sacrificed himself for me. That's what happened."

My eyes widened. "That's... unexpected."

"That's love." He stared at the ground. "Three years later and I'm still learning from him, who would have imagined. You know I think that's what brought it down in the end."

"What?"

"Love."

I snorted, and Xanthos shot me a look. "Hey! I'm not kidding."

"That's such a cheesy way to go." I chuckled.

Xanthos still looked angry for a bit, then he laughed. We both laughed and it was a nice change. It was nice to be happy for once.

The rest of four were okay, they were just unconscious. Ipa seemed especially dazzled to be alive, Fulgura wasn't even fazed, and Feurige was just happy. Soon everyone was chatting and playing and it was nice to see the mix of tribes getting along.

I watched the tears that formed in Regulus's eyes as he got to see Avangeline again. Arroyo looked happy for once, Kennon allowed himself to smile. I noticed Skylark seemed to hang around with him a lot now.

Jamboree kept to herself, but she gazed at the horizon like she was talking to someone far away, and she smiled to herself.

My parents were furious. As soon as my dad spotted me he ran as fats as he could, and gave a firm lecture on everything dangerous I had down in the last seventy two hours. Then my mom stepped in and they nuzzled me happily.