Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 44: Complicated

~Let's never do that again.~

Deal...

Judging by Myrkr's voice in my head, we still remained in our soul, so our plan to destroy our dreamworld had obviously failed. Disorientation was our reward for expending so much energy at once. I suspected we'd be sick to our stomachs, too, if souls could feel such a thing. 

On the bright side, using said energy hadn't separated us again, even though that much Lunar Energy should've caused our souls to split. Myrkr was quick to pick up on that. ~Hey, w-we're still merged! Do you think that means...?~

That we're finally soul-bonded? I... think so? I could only hope that it was permanent this time. But we need to get out of here first. I resisted a sudden urge to do something unknown, irritated that-

~C'mon, we have to look around at least.~

I internally flinched, remembering that the foreign impulses came from Myrkr. He was careful to keep his voice calm, but I felt his faint irritation drifting through our soul. I couldn't blame him; I'd be frustrated, too, if he consistently refused to work with me. Right, sorry...

I wrestled with my selfish desire for control, telling myself that Myrkr could be trusted to make decisions with and for me. The last part was hard to accept. I had trouble letting others make choices for me, mostly because I feared ulterior motives and manipulation. Even Dad has been a little manipulative in the past, but Myrkr has never done any of that. I had to trust that he would do the right thing, and even follow my lead when I wanted to make the decisions.

I felt an impulse again. This time, I set aside my reservations and gave in, smoothly letting our eyes open, then looked up at the edge of a blank, rocky crater that I didn't remember walking into. Multiple pairs of wide eyes were locked on us, much to our unease. ~Uh... this is an uncomfortable dream.~

I don't think this is a dream. Everything is too detailed. Not to mention, our dream only had dragons that were really in our heads. I doubted Nana Moon, Splinter, and Mom would all jump into our dream at once.

~Where are we, then?~ I didn't have an answer for that.

"Aurora? Myrkr?" Nana Moon warbled carefully. "Can you see us?"

We struggled to open our mouth and speak with no progress. Myrkr was far more patient this time around. He felt my efforts and patiently gave me encouragement, assuring me that he was happy as long as I tried, and not to rush myself for his sake. I still felt ashamed for making a simple thing difficult, so I neglected to take it slow as he suggested. Needless to say, I got frustrated with myself after a couple of minutes and gave up. Why couldn't I do something so simple?

The trio of dragons staring down at us talked amongst themselves, but I was too disheartened to pay attention. A long moment of uncomfortable silence passed between us. ~I didn't mean to hold you down.~ Where did that come from? If anything, I was holding him down.

What?

I felt his guilt spark to life. ~You told me once that you don't want to be controlled... but I did it anyway.~

Wait, what are you talking about? You don't control me!

~I tried to confine you in our home. I told you what to and what not to do. I didn't let you do anything without talking to me first.~

You were just protecting me! You weren't-

~Does 'protecting' make someone want to run away? You sneaked out to get away from me, I know you did. A-And now you're having problems with giving control to me. You can't say that's only a coincidence.~ I didn't know what to say to that. ~I didn't pay attention to how you felt about it, and that was wrong.~