Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐢𝐢. 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙫𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙨
❛ 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵? ❜

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Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Rose was shocked at the sudden turn of events, ignoring the searing pain in her jaw. It could have been broken; the bones of a bird were hollow, and they'd crumble like wet newspaper after an impact like that. Her heart was pounding at a thousand miles a second, and it seemed as if it was trying to rip itself free from her ribcage.

Despite her efforts, her wings seemed to have seized functioning. Instead, for the first time in the female's life, she was falling, without any hope of regaining control. The wind whipping past her as she grew closer and closer to the ground had forced her wings to snap shut. She resembled a crimson meteor, her feathers ruffled messily due to the harsh wind. Surprisingly, although the series of events was occurring within the span of a few seconds, it felt like much longer.

Cylene was plummeting to the ground beside her, still asleep somehow, and in the final moments before impact Rose managed to twist her body and wrap her wings around the slumbering wyvern. She squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the pain which would likely wrack her body once she hit the ground.

It was too late to use magic, too late to transform back.

She just had to hope that Cylene would make it out uninjured.

And then she was slammed into the ground. If the female was in human form, she would have screamed – but seeing as she wasn't, she had to settle for a muffled whimper. Luckily she had taken the brunt of the impact – leaving Cylene unharmed. However her side, which she had landed on, felt completely bruised.

Her lungs burned for air, so she took in a deep breath – only to curl up in absolute agony as the mere act of breathing set her ribcage on fire. She could feel her bones shifting against each other with each breath.

Clearly, her ribs had been cracked – judging from the sickening sensation, it was a clean break. Hopefully. The source of the pain came from where the upper ribs would have been if she was in human form. If the bone had splintered, she ran the risk of puncturing her lungs. Movement would likely only make it worse. Luckily, however, it didn't feel as though that was the case.

It hurt. So much. She wanted to stop breathing, if that meant the pain would go away.

Through the cloudy haze of pain and shock, she realised that whoever had attacked her could appear at any time. She couldn't let them find her, lying on the ground, beaten and defenceless, with Cylene sleeping nearby. She forced herself to move, fiery feathers coated in a layer of dust, breathing as deeply as her injuries would allow.

Rose felt the skin beneath her feathers heating up as her energy began to deteriorate. A warm sensation filled her insides, not unlike the comforting heat of a fireplace. It chased the pain away, clearing the woman's foggy mind. She could feel the bones which had been broken knitting themselves back together, the bruise on her side receding. Her jaw was also mended, though she had forgotten about it in the heat of the moment.

Almost as soon as the process was over, she felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. She wanted to fall over and sleep for the next few days. It felt as if she had been running on caffeine, and now the precious energy which kept her moving had diminished.