An Odd Family Version 2.0

Lost and Found

Anguis flew around for a while, trying to clear her mind, but the image of seeing the injuries she gave to Vincent kept creeping back in her head.
*I can't stay around them anymore.... I don't wanna hurt them any more than I already have.... but where do I go? There's already several people that have been to my old home, so they'd definitely look there... wait, I know*
She soared past her forest home and landed on the white sand on the beach, stumbling a bit. She fell down to her knees and let her wings droop down to the ground.
*I'm sorry guys...*
Sadness overwhelmed her and a scale dropped off of her wing, hitting the sand in front of her. She glanced over at it and saw a part of her skin was stuck to it. Another scale fell off and she picked it up as well. Looking up at her wings, she noted how some scales had lost their colors, or appeared more dull. She went over to the ocean and saw that her aura had become mostly black and she gasped at the sight of the reflection in the moonlight.
*I'm... disappearing...*
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Tires screeched as Vincent pulled up to a stop on the side of the highway. He got out and ran through the trees and shrubs as fast as he could without running into anything, which was more of a brisk walk with his hand outstretched, since dawn hadn't broken then.
"man, how did she memorize all of this stuff..." he mumbled out loud, "it's so damn complicated just memorizing the road maps in town..."
An hour later he got into the clearing and looked around for anything that would give him a sign that Anguis was hiding there. The early morning sunrise provided enough light for the area to be barely seen, but nothing seemed to have changed recently. Vincent went down to the water's edge and carefully examined the shoreline. There were no shoe prints or tracks suggesting she had been in that area and he sighed.
*where could she have gone... maybe she went home... yeah, that's where she is...*
He got back up and went back to their house, arriving in a short amount of time. He searched every room, outside around the house, not finding anything that would help him. His phone started ringing and he picked up the call.
"Hello?"
"Vincent! It's Scott"
"Hey, what's up?"
"Umm, so, by any chance, are you looking for Anguis?"
"Yeah, she ran off, I dunno where she is"
"Well while I was looking on the outside of the building a few seconds ago, she flew overhead."
"She did?!? Where did she go?!? Which direction??"
"She went East"
*East... that's the direction of her old home... maybe I overlooked something...*
"Alright, thanks man"
"Oh, by the way, why'd she take off, that's not like her?"
"It was Mike... the bastard triggered a memory and I went to stop her and she sliced me open instead of him..."
"Oh dear... she probably didn't handle that very well..."
"No, she freaked out after calming down and seeing my arm. I knew she was afraid of something like that happening, I shoulda been more careful..."
"You'll find her Vince, she couldn't of gone far"
"Yeah... I dunno where she would of gone though.."
"You'll figure something out, hey I gotta go, call me if you find her"
"Alright, oh and you can ask Jeremy what happened between Mike n Anguis, he was there when it happened"
"Alright, well have fun"
"Mmm no promises"
"Bye"
"Bye"
He hung up and drove back over to her old home.

{time skip brought to you by the NFL}

This time he searched the bushes and trees around the area, carefully examining anything for clues. It had been around 8 hours since she went missing, and the pit in Vincent's stomach had only sunken the more time had passed. He sat down against one of the rocks by the shoreline and sighed, wiping the sweat off of his face.
*god... where is she... it's not like her to disappear like this...*
An airplane went by overhead and the reflection off the side hit another object that was on the ground and it got Vincent's attention. He knelt down next to where the light bounced off and moved the grass out of the way. It was a deep mahogany colored scale and he picked it up, examining the pointy tip of it.
*wait, this is off of one of her morphs... her wings, the wings she morphed in, she was around here*
He stood up and looked around the area, spotting another scale by the rock he was sitting on. Two more scales shimmered in the water just before the drop off into the deep lake, and he waded in and grabbed them.
*why is she loosing scales... maybe they were placed here on purpose...*
As he looked around, it became apparent that there were scales scattered throughout the area, most of them pointing East. He collected them and looked at them all carefully. Sand was lodged between some of them, and Vincent scraped off the little grains, puzzled.
*how is there sand on these? the shoreline here is grass and mud...*
Sitting back down on the rock, he noticed the scales gradually faded out, loosing the red coloring to them. He frowned and turned one of the scales over to see flesh and blood still stuck to it. Gasping, he almost dropped it by accident, but caught it before it hit the ground.
*oh god... that's not good... where is she?!? What happened to her?!?*
A little bit grossed out by the amount of skin stuck to it, he held it upside down and a drop of blood fell off and hit his shoe.
*wait, this came off recently... she's gotta be around here somewhere...*
Vincent stood up and looked around and spotted more blood on the grass. He followed the trail deeper into the forest. He walked that way for almost half an hour, then stepped in a pile of sand. He looked up and saw her sitting by the ocean, and a single scale fell off the back of her wing. More scales laid scattered around on the beach and he cautiously walked up behind her with his hand outstretched, as if he was going to tap her on the shoulder.
"A-Anguis?" His voice faltered.
She gasped and turned around, almost accidentally hitting him with her wings.
"Don't, don't come near me"
Vincent tried to not appear surprised, but her condition scared him more than anything. Black tear streaks ran down from her eyes, evaporating at the bottom, her aura had lost the majority of its color and there were more holes in it, and her wings looked as if they had been mauled on by a pack of wolves. She was extremely timid and kept backing up every time he took a step forward.
"Anguis, its okay swee-"
"No, no it's not okay, it's the complete opposite of okay... I-I hurt you, it, it's not okay"
"Anguis, I'm okay, I know you didn't mean to, just, come back to me..."
"I-I can't..."
"Why?"
"I can't control myself when it happens, whenever I freak out... and I don't want you getting hurt again because of me... so I'm staying out here..."
A single black tear fell down her face and more scales dropped off, taking some skin off with it. Vincent frowned and hugged Anguis, making her stiffen up and freeze.
"I don't want you staying out here though, you might think it's the best for you, but it'll kill you sooner."
"But, I've survived out here so far, don't see why I don't just come back to my primitive life..."
She looked up at him and quietly gasped in shock.
"Oh no...." she whispered
"What?"
"Y-your au-aura... t-there's cracks in it now..."
Her voice was failing her and Anguis turned her back to him, more tears rolling down her face. She heard a little sniffle from behind her and felt Vincent wrap his arms around her waist. She unmorphed her wings and placed her hands on top of his, letting out a shakey little sigh.
"S-sweetheart... I don't wanna loose you... I was so worried about you when I didn't find you... just...c-come home with me, please..."
Anguis felt a little drop of water hit her neck and looked back up at Vincent. Pain clouded his eyes and a wave of guilt hit Anguis like a truck. She bit her bottom lip as she thought about what he had said, turned around, and then nodded a little.
"Okay..." she whispered, "I'll come home..."
He smiled and started laughing, hugging her tightly. Anguis smiled a little too and briefly kissed him on the cheek. His aura flared up and the cracks disappeared completely, making her smile even more.
"Your aura's healed again"
"Really? Cool... but, yours has even more cracks and holes in it now..."
"It does?"
"Yeah"
"Oh..."
"Don't worry ~kisses her forehead~ I'll help you with it, let's just go home"
"Okay"
Vincent swiftly picked her up off of her feet, making Anguis squeak a little in surprise.
"I missed that little noise" Vincent commented, "it's too cute"
Anguis giggled a little and rested her head against his shoulder.
"I like your little growl you do sometimes"
"Oh, you mean this?"
He growled and Anguis felt chills run up her spine, making her shake a little.
"Yeah, that" she said while giggling, "or when you purr, it's really... well, attractive I guess"
"Hmm, is it now? Good to know"
*i have a feeling he's smirking now...* Anguis thought
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They both got home and Vincent tried to stifle a yawn, but it ended up being extremely loud, instead on quiet like he was hoping it was. Anguis yawned a little as well and leaned up against the car door when she got out.
"Man.. whoever knew running away could be so tiring..."
"You think that's tiring, try frantically searching for ~yawns~ a constantly moving person for almost 9 hours... plus another 5 hours of trying not to die by animatronics"
"That does sound tiring..." she mumbled as they both walked into the house
"Mhmm, but, I'm still awake enough to do this"
He scooped her up off her feet and spun around a few times., making a laugh squeal out of Anguis. She started giggling and they made eye contact and just gazed at each other for a while. It was dead silent for the time.
"God, look at you... you're so adorable still" Vincent commented
"I am?"
"Mmmhmm, you're my adorable, cute, sexy little girl."
She giggled again and blushed slightly as he booped her on the nose with his nose, and decided to kiss him. He smirked at the change of mood and softly kissed her back and carried her up to their room. He laid Anguis out on the bed and slid in next to her, cuddling her and petting her hair.
"Anguis?"
"yeah?"
"Please, don't ever run away like that again... you scared me so much..."
"Okay... I'm sorry Vinny, I, I don't know what I was thinking..."
"It's okay sweetheart, trust me, if I was in your shoes, I probably would of done the same thing"
Vincent continued to pet her until Anguis noticed the gashes on his arm were still open, and she placed her hand on top of the wound and healed it with her necklace.
"There you go, all fixed up now"
"Thanks dear"
He kissed her on her forehead, making her aura flare up a lot and had to squint in order to see what was happening. Color flowed back into it like a river breaking through a dam, and quiet a few cracks disappeared. He smiled as most of her aura healed itself, leaving only a few large holes and cracks. It still looked like shattered glass, but not as bad as it once was, and Anguis noticed Vincent smiling and gave him a questioning look.
"Whatcha smiling for?"
"Most of your aura is healed"
"~gasp~ really?!?"
"Mhmm"
She made a little squeaking sound and hugged him tightly. He chuckled and hugged her back as well.
"Ooh thank you Vinny!" Anguis chirped
"For what?"
"Helping me, when I ran off, I saw what my aura looked like then, it was really bad n I didn't think it would ever be fixed."
"Oh, well, it's ~yawns~ much better now love"
Anguis smiled some more and snuggled up next to Vincent, falling asleep in the matter of minutes. Vincent remembered what Scott said and quickly called him up on a FaceTime call.
"Hey Scottie"
"Vince! Dear god you look like a train wreck! What did you do, run through a mud pit?"
"Yeah sorta, buuuuut, it was worth it"
He tilted the camera down a little so Anguis showed up on screen and Scott laughed a little in relief.
"Heh, so you did end up finding her"
"Yep, 9 hours later"
"Geez, why didn't you just ask for help?!"
"I know what triggers certain memories, and I didn't want anyone tripping her mind like that, cause sometimes the most random things do that for her"
"Gotcha, so, where was she?"
"In the forest down by 63, she hid there when her parents kicked her out, so she thought it would be the best for her to go there"
"Damn, how'd you know she was gonna be there?!?"
"She's showed me her little spot before, it's actually really cool, I'll see if I can get her to show you one day."
"Ah, okay cool, well, imma let you rest, you look like you need it"
"Okay, see ya later man"
"Bye"
Right after Scott hung up, Vincent decided to call Jeremy to let him know what was going on and that she was okay. He didn't answer right away, but when the call connected, Jeremy looked at him with a groggily expression.
"O-oh, Ey Vince"
"Hey Sleepyhead"
"D-dude, what happened to you?"
"A lot of things, I mean, I just spent like 9 hours looking for her"
As he said the last sentence, Anguis let out a little quiet yawn in her sleep and Jeremy gasped as he heard it.
"Y-you found her!?!"
"Mhmm, thought you'd be happy to see her"
"I, uh"
Jeremy cheeks turned a little pink and he looked away from the screen, making Vincent chuckle. He moved the camera out some more so Anguis could be seen and Jeremy smiled a little once seeing her.
"Sh-she looks so peaceful like th-that"
"Yeah... it's cute, ain't it?"
"Y-yeah... ~yawns~"
"Well, imma let ya go back to sleep, night kid"
"N-night..."
Vincent hung up and went back to petting Anguis while she slept. Her aura was glowing a bit brighter than normal and would light up some more when he brushed his hand through her hair. He smiled a little bit and drifted off to sleep as well, the two of them snuggling next to each other.
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