A Misadventure's Fortune [REED900]

7: Leaving to Stay

Song Of The Chapter:
The Few Things - JP Saxe

Nines was awake bright and early, as usual, swimming and exploring the areas around the island. He knew Gavin would be awake by now, so he decided to catch the avian something for breakfast. He stuck his head into a crevasse of a rock, searching for a crab or something else of that nature. Bingo- Nines reached in and swiftly grabbed one, killing it before it could clamp onto him. He looked back into the dark wedge of rocks but pulled back in surprise when he saw the bright red colors of an octopus. The siren must have stolen the cephalopod's prey.
The creature was startled, obviously, and released a cloud of ink right at Nines' face. He jerked back away from the dark billow of ink and immediately swam to the surface, trying his best not to inhale the dark liquid through his gills.
Wonderful.
At least he got the crab.

"Gavin!" Nines called, wiping his mouth and face of the ink. "I caught a crab!"

Gavin had just been gradually waking up as Nines appeared, his wings slowly stretching out to their full length and his body stretching like a cat with a heavy yawn. He groaned and slowly looked up at Nines but held in a snark as he saw Nines's face covered in ink.
"What did-" he then saw the crab and jerked back, wrapping his large wings around himself. "I swear to fucking god if you throw that thing at me again," he growled, eyeing up the crab aggressively.
"I'm not going to," Nines said while rubbing his eye. "Here just take it," Nines frowned, squinting to make sure the ink didn't drip into his eyes. "I can't fucking see," he groaned.
Gavin got up slowly and walked over to Nines and sat down in front of him and took the crab and sat back. He tilted his head with a huff as he watched Nines struggle with the ink, throwing water at the merman's face to wash off the ink.
"Use the water, dumbass," he huffed in amusement, fiddling with the crab in an attempt to pull off its legs.
Nines sputtered at the water splashed at him. "I know, I just wanted to give that to you first so it wasn't poisoned or anything," Nines dunked his face and began scrubbing, irritated. Ink was a pain to get off, both because it was important was off as soon as possible while avoiding breathing it in.
Gavin shook his head with a grin as he watched Nines. He got up and walked back to the dying embers, throwing more driftwood into the fire to get it going again. 

Once there was a flame he put the crab over a stick and began to cook it. As soon as it was done he grabbed it and sucked all the meat out of the legs, pulling open the middle and scraping whatever meat he could out of the middle of the crab. It wasn't much, but it was good enough. Gavin stretched once he was done, hands reaching his toes as he fanned out his wings. The pain was almost fully gone, condensed down to an almost unnoticeable ache now. His eyes widened as he realized it, and he sat back up and stared at his wings.
He had to try...
The avian began to beat them up and down, testing them out, before he ran and took a flying leap up into the air, his wings carrying him off the ground. He let out a happy chuckle, hovering in the air just like he used to.
"Fucking finally!!" He cheered and flew a few tight circles along the expanse of beach. He could go home now! He could finally go home!

Nines had finally managed to wash off the ink and was now watching as Gavin flew around, a grin capturing his lips.
"Looking good!" He called. "How do you feel?"
He was happy for Gavin, happy he was able to fly again, but there was an odd, indescribable feeling in his chest. Flying meant that Gavin could go home. Flying meant Gavin could leave. And that... wasn't a good thought. Nines liked Gavin- he didn't want him to leave.
But he did what he did best.
He hid it.

Gavin stopped flapping about and hovered in the air, looking down at Nines with a grin.
"Feeling as good as before!" He huffed and glided down towards the water, skimming his wings across the ripples of waves before flying back up into the air, grinning as his sense of direction returned. His home was north.
"Well it's been fun but I've got to hit the road fish boy. See ya!" He called and took off, flying north and away from the little cove.