The smell of smoke and the sound of animals made Luz and Amity wake up.
"Amity, do you smell that?" Luz asked.
"It smells like smoke!" Amity said.
The two ran out of the hut and saw the orange flames consuming the trees.
"Oh my god... we need to-"
"Luz, look out!" Amity said, pushing Luz out of the way of a large flaming tree falling.
The two were separated by it.
"Luz, go find your dad, I'll get Ghost and fly over this!" Amity said.
"Okay, but be careful!" Luz said, rushing off to find her father.
Luz ran to her dad's hut, which was on fire.
"No! Dad!" Luz shouted, rushing towards the hut! "Dad! Are you in there?!"
Nathan came running out, coughing from the smoke and holding his arm, which was very burnt.
"Luz!" He said before coughing more, stumbling to one knee.
Luz rushed over and held him up, putting his good arm over her shoulders.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here!" Luz said.
"N-n-no... I can't just leave... the animals, the forest, they need me."
"What? Dad, they're probably running away right now! You should do the same!" Luz said to him.
"No... not as long... as their home is in danger... they never will abandon their home... they will fight... until they die... if they need to."
"But that's-"
Luz was cut off as Nathan pushed her away as another, much smaller tree crashed between them. Luz was now trapped between to great walls of fire.
"Dad!" Luz said before coughing, covering her mouth quickly to keep the smoke from her lungs. "Dad!"
Luz tripped and fell into a pile of burnt plants, sending ash into her lungs and making her cough more. She wasn't able to get up as the smoke was beginning to overwhelm her. Amity ran into the remnants of the hut to look for Ghost.
"Ghost! Ghost where are you!?" Amity yelled.
"M-m-mother?" Ghost said.
Amity found Ghost, heavily burnt, trapped behind fire.
"Ghost!"
Amity ran and jumped over the fire, getting light burns but her adrenaline blocking out the pain.
"Ghost, it's okay, I'm here." Amity said.
Ghost let out a sad purr, she knew she was too damaged to survive.
Amity could sense this and didn't like it, kneeling down to hold her palisman close.
"No no no no no no! Ghost, stay with me! You have to stay with me!" Amity said to her.
Ghost didn't move, which made Amity hold her close to her chest and she began crying. The tears fell to the ground and small flowers grew from the spots they landed. Amity looked at the flowers and remember.
"The seed." Amity said.
She put Ghost on the ground and put her hands on her.
'Please work, please work, please work... I need you Ghost-'
"You're my baby, I made you, I need you...Please... come back to me."
Amity closed her eyes until her hands started glowing green. The glow slowly spread over Ghost as the burns she experienced slowly healed, returning her wood/fur shine back to its original state. Amity shook Ghost.
"Ghost? Can you hear me?"
Ghost opened her eyes.
"Mother?"
Amity felt like crying again but joyfully as she hugged her palis- her child close to her chest.
"That's right, it's mother. Come on, Ghost, we need to get out of this hut." Amity said, holding Ghost close to her chest as she ran out of the fire covered hut.
"Where is mama? Is she safe?" Ghost asked, looking around for Luz.
"We got separated but we'll find her, I promise." Amity said.
Amity saw Nathan's hut, completely destroyed by fire and saw Nathan on the ground, barely conscious while holding his arm.
"Nathan!" Amity shouted, rushing to him and helping him up, "W-w-where's Luz?"
"We got separated, a tree was falling and I pushed out of the way." Nathan said, "This... is too much. Find her... and get out of here."
"But what about you? I can't just leave you here!" Amity said as Nathan slowly moved away.
"I need to help the animals. You need to find Luz before she suffocates or worse. I'll be fine, go!" Nathan said.
Amity watched as Nathan got up and ran to help the other animals.
"C-c-come on Ghost, we need to find her."
"Right!" Ghost said, turning into a staff and falling into Amity's hands.
Amity flew into the air and looked around... and was horrified to see Luz face down, surrounded by fire.
"LUZ, NO!" Amity shouted in worry.
"Mama!" Ghost said in fear! "Mother, we need a water spell!"
"I... I know!" Amity said, "But I don't know that spell!"
"But you must! Or mama will die!" Ghost said in worry as the fires appeared to be getting closer to Luz.
Amity's began to panic and flew down to Luz.
She didn't care if she gone burnt again, she couldn't lose her! She couldn't lose the woman she loved most in this whole world!
'I have to save her!' Amity thought, her eyes beginning to glow.
Amity landed and flipped Luz over, seeing burn marks and scorch marks on her.
"Luz, wake up!" Amity said.
Another tree began to fall and Amity panicked.
"NO!"
Amity slammed her hands on the ground and the seed in her heart caused her magic to effect the ground, creating a dome of roots to cover her, Luz, and Ghost. Protecting them from the tree. Inside of the dome, Ghost provided light with her eyes as Amity was left breathing heavy from such a spell.
"Huh... huh... huh... Luz... wake up." Amity said, "Please... wake up."
She shook her fiancé a bit, making her groan as the air inside of the plant dome was fresher than the smoke. It allowed her to breathe easier and cough a bit as she turned up to Amity.
"Am-Amity?" Luz asked opening her eyes.
"It's okay... I'm here." Amity said, hugging Luz.
"W-What about my dad?" Luz asked. "Where is he?"
"He told me to get to you, just... keep your eyes open." Amity said.
"Amity... tell him... I love him." Luz said, as her eyes got heavy.
"No, no! Luz stay awake!" Amity said.
Amity hugged Luz's limp body and started crying the entire rest of the night, just listening to Luz's heartbeat to make sure it didn't stop.
YOU ARE READING
The Zookeeper 3: The Future
FanfictionIt's time for Luz to confront her past so that she can finally focus on her future. But will she be able to keep it together when she learns the past isn't as clear as she thought it was? Will her and Amity be able to move forward, or will their fut...
