The Lost

24- Amber Wings

Azure

We struck the ground hard despite my madly flapping wings. The human had chosen maybe the worst place ever to decide to go and pass out; the area around us was laced with pebbles and jutting rocks from the nearby lake, which didn't make a pleasant landing for anyone. Lucius sort of slumped down to the floor rather than fell face-first onto the protruding grey stones... which I suppose was a relief, even if only a small one. It was so easy to forget, but even humans could be hurt, especially from things like falling on top of sharp surfaces. The boy was half-knelt, half-lying on the floor when Aspen and I crashed to the ground.

I cried out without meaning to when I was sent rolling through the dirt. Like powdered snow it sprayed up around me, into my hair and under my clothes, doing little to stop me raking my uncovered skin on the rigid earth underneath. Spinning without direction, the forest moved in a swoon of blurred colours until I abruptly smacked into some solid surface. If I had any breath left, that definitely knocked it out of me. I managed a whispered sound sort of like an ow. The impact left a throbbing patch on my back, but that seemed like the extent of my injuries. Lucky. Lucky I hadn't hit a rock, and lucky it was my back that was now aching, not my wings.
No time to even open my eyes and check what had stopped me rolling— Aspen smacked down onto my back with a little cry of his own not a second later. My face bonked the floor from his sudden weight, then I was seeing nothing but stars. My ow sound was very audible this time. Distantly, over my own grumbling, I heard a groan.
The landing could have been worse, I supposed. Nothing felt broken or out of place. Though, I couldn't feel much at all with his full weight pressed on top of me.

I felt the boy push himself upright - a slight pause before he gasped audibly- then he was clambering to one side and pulling me onto my knees.
"Azure- are you alright?" Aspen demanded. His hands cupped my face, then immediately brushed at the clumps of brown still sticking to me. Honest to gods I flushed a little bit. Lucius was less than a meter away, probably hurt, and I went all red like some six-year-old child. I couldn't help it though. There was a glimmer of the old Aspen— so stupidly protective, unnecessarily concerned all the time... so affectionate.
I frowned very seriously at him, "You fell on me."
The boy could only blink. He emitted a huh? But when I smiled, he realised I was joking and the worried face dissipated. Ignoring the dirt taste in my mouth, and trying to ignore how nice it felt to have his hands on my face, I heaved my aching legs to life and pulled the two of us to our feet. "Come on."

After the two of us had shaken the leaves out of our hair, we were running over to the boy. We hadn't actually landed that far away even though it felt like I had been launched halfway across the forest. A few steps and we were close enough to see the fluttering of his eyelids. Any childishly reddened faces that lingered were bleached clean when Aspen and me saw Lucius— Lucius, that indestructible, toweringly tall human— slumped there like he was. The human was flat on his stomach in the forest dirt. Eyes shut, save the twitches that quivered through his black eyelashes. Seeing something so ridiculously powerful lay debilitated like that was already unnerving enough, but to know that the boy was our friend made it even worse. His face was paling to the colour of Lyn's hair now.
"What the hell?" Aspen uttered. It sounded scared. We were standing frozen beside Lucius, whose cheek was pressed to the rocks and dirt. When I looked over to Aspen, he not only looked nervous, but also genuinely concerned for the boy. "Is he alright?"
Gods if I knew. But he certainly didn't look it.
"Oh geez..." I found myself saying, not even knowing what on earth it meant, only saying it because I had heard Lucius say it about a million times. Lucius. My heart decided to make my nerves worse by sending blood rushing through my ears. Aspen was right— what the hell had happened?
I left Az standing on the floor whilst I flew upwards and tapped my fingertips against Lucius' cheek. The skin was warm to the touch despite his pallor. When there was no answer, my tapping became a sort of pushing, which progressed into a shoving that eventually devolved into me slapping the boy with as much force as I possibly could. Even though I knew I couldn't possibly hurt him, it still wasn't nice. Smacking at his face had proved useless though. Lucius gave the impression of being dead-asleep with his shut eyes and slow breathing. Even his eyelids had settled firm now. What in the gods... people don't just suddenly fall flat-asleep, even if they faint like he had. Shouting into his ear was my next idea.
"Lucius? Lucius? Are you alright?"
No response. He didn't even twitch.