Raised Like A Phoenix

Chapter 13 - Long Night

The moment Flinx explained the situation Cragger ran.

Ran through the thick woods.

Ran past all the carnivorous plants.

Ran through the town and all of its inhabitants.

Ran straight to the Phoenix Temple.

At one point he heard Plovar calling his name, but he ignored it. He ignored all of it.

The logical part of his brain told him Laval would be fine. Chi wears off after a while so it would only make sense that the fire chi keeping them alive would. All they had to do was put in another orb and everything would be just fine. Laval would be up and would smile and hug him and they would be fine.

That's what his brain was telling him.

His heart however ached and begged and screamed at him to get to the Phoenix Temple. The feeling clouded the logical side of himself, the side tried to make him relax and slow down. That told him Laval would be okay.

He welcomed the feeling with open arms. His brain would not claim glory over him today.

Finally, he reached the temples many, many steps and swore that the moment he found out who built them would get their head bitten off.

He kicked the door open and locked eyes with a very surprised Frax, who he grabbed by the shoulders.

"Where's Laval?!"

The two made just in time for Foltrax to finish making an orb of fire chi, looking a bit winded at the act. Gorzan stood beside the bed, looking like he had forgotten to stand properly as he was being supported by Lion Beast.

In one corner sat The Whoosh, holding a young raven child on his lap along with Reegull, who was staring at the body in an extremely creepy manner that Cragger wanted to punch him in the face for.

But right now, none of it mattered. Not Foltrax's exhausted expression, not the questions Cragger had about Reegull and Whoosh being here. All that mattered was Laval, who laid on the bed still as a statue.

At least he looked peaceful. But it still felt wrong.

"Hey... you're just in time." Foltrax gave Cragger a half-assed smile as he placed the orb of fire chi in Laval's chest with no warning.

There was a blinding light as Cragger shielded his eyes. A roar could be heard as it began to fade and Cragger looked up to see Laval, sitting up in the bed.

The croc sighed in relief as the lion studied the room. His eyes shifted from Gorzan and the Lion Beast to Cragger. Then to Foltrax and the Whoosh and Reegull. They shifted briefly back to the Lion Beast before they turned back to Cragger and stayed there.

"Hey bud. Sorry about what happened-" The croc mumbled as Laval jumped up from the bed and held him as tight as he could. All the words he would have said died in his throat as he stood frozen from the sudden affection.

"Cragger... "The way Laval said his name made him want to fall apart at the seams. In fact, if HIS chi died right here, right now as well he knew he would die happy in Laval's arms.

"Well, do you feel any different?" Foltrax asked.

Laval shifted away from Cragger, slightly breaking his heart a bit, and moved his arms and legs around.

"Not really. I did have a weird dream though."

Out of the corner of his eye, Cragger saw Reegull taking notes. Foltrax nodded.