DragonBonds

Catastrophe

Run. Run faster than you've ever run before.

That was the last thing that crossed Cloud's mind after what had happened. The moment things went wrong and he saw the faces of his friends, he knew he had to get out of there. He was so confused now too- why did that happen? Didn't he and Zephyr have an agreement? What was happening to him?

Midway through running, Cloud had started flying to the clearing that he had trained with Andi weeks ago now. It was open, it was safe, and if something happened to him, minimal damage would occur. He just... He needed to get away from there.

He knew his friends would follow him though, so it was no surprise that moments after he had gotten there and glued his eyes to the sunset, Khloe, Vickie, Connor, and of course, Andi, had followed him as fast as they could. He stared at each of them, backup up away as they each tried to make their ways closer to the calico. His gaze was desperate- he wanted them to stay away from him, keep them safe. Whatever happened, it wasn't him, it was dangerous.

Connor stepped in front of Andi and growled out the calico's name.

"Cloud! You can't just run like that and not tell us what the hell is going on!" The hare took another step forward, his brows furrowed and his hands balled into fists. Khloe was stood just behind him, on the other side of Andi, scowling at Cloud. Cloud looked at his friends and his partner, something growing in his chest. Guilt, and fear, and anger that they followed him. They knew what would happen if he lost control again, they knew how dangerous he was when he wasn't himself.

He needed to figure this out with Zephyr, by himself. This was his fight, not theirs.

"I... I don't need to tell you guys anything!" he shouted back, his legs trembling as he stood against his friends. "You don't know what this is like, you never will! I'm the only person that can fight against this, that can figure this out because it's my body. It's my body, and- and my burden to bear, and all you guys are doing is keeping me from doing that!"

He didn't want to yell at his friends. He was okay, he just had to talk to the Drake, right? He just needed to figure this out with him. It would be okay, his friends would be safe.

He could do this.

Connor took a step forward to try to get to him, but Andi grabbed his arm quickly and kept him with the others. The hare looked at the ringtail, ready to snap at them, but very quickly softened when he saw the look on their face. They were desperate- of course they were, he realized, this was their boyfriend- they didn't want Cloud to get hurt by his friends more than he's been getting hurt by himself. Connor gave them a nod, and slid his arm out of their hand, holding their hand gently, and doing the same with Khloe. He gave them both a squeeze on their hands, and he looked at Vickie, who was doing the same with Andi. They needed the support especially.

"Cloud," Connor called again, less angry but still firm. "We're your friends. Don't you think that even though we'll never feel what you feel, we'll always try to understand what's going on? That's what we've been doing since this happened to you. That's all we've ever tried to do is understand and support you when things were getting super tough in your head. Why would you push us away now, after everything?"

Cloud... Didn't have a good answer. Something told him to look back at the sunset- it was only getting lower, and the moon would be out before long. He needed to act fast before it started- he needed to appeal to Zephyr somehow. He looked back at his friends and backed away from them once again, using his wings as a half-shield against whatever they might do to stop him from doing this alone.

"I... I'm not pushing you guys away. I don't want you guys to have to deal with this, I can do this by myself. The only person that can do this is me and you guys need to get away from here so I can do that. Please, I just... I want to keep you guys safe, that's all I want, and I need to make sure that Zephyr will behave. I have to, it's all I care about right now."