Close Together Yet Far Apart (Firewind)

Chapter 21- Verdant Leaves

Life in the Valley quickly got dull. Of course it did.

He spent most of his days discovering his new powers. But, it's not like he had new powers everyday. So that quickly got boring too.

However, he finally made clothes for himself. Once, when he was wandering through the valley, He saw this sword, with a hunk of armor resting on it, along with a cape. The cape was black, with a yellow color underneath. The armor had a suit underneath it, which was probably there to fill in any gaps so that the wearer would not be naked. It had some kind of symbol on it. He took the clothes, and put them on, cape and all, which turned out to be fire-proof. He even grabbed the sword. He felt so cool as he stood there, cape fluttering in the hot wind.

But as he traveled around the dragon's valley, the armor quickly got heavy, and so did the sword. So he decided to take off the armor, and leave it behind along with the sword. He left everything, except for the cape, the suit, and two shoulder plates.

He'd seen the forest a few times as he was traveling to and from in the valley. It's not like he can ignore it. It stood out amidst the wasteland of the valley. It was lush and green and beautiful, even from the outside. He wanted to go in. For some reason, the forest reminds him of something wonderful.

He was tempted to go inside a few times, but he couldn't bring himself any closer than just outside the border. For some reason, he knew that he would be able to easily hurt it. So he never did. He just admired it from the valley. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes even hours.

One of these days, he was sitting outside, just staring at it. He could hear what sounded like "birds"... at least he thinks they're called birds, sort of making instrumental noises from inside. He closed his eyes and listened to them. It was beautiful.

His "spiritual moment" was interrupted abruptly, as he heard rustling coming from one of the bushes near the outside of the forest. He got scared, and quickly hid behind a rock that was nearby, poking his head out to see what it was.

A purple smoke-like creature jumped out of the bushes, sniffing the grass. It looked... cute? Fire Spirit watched from afar, trying to determine whether it was hostile or not.

He wouldn't find out, though. He almost jumped as an arrow pierced the thing, and it let out a piercing cry as it sort of evaporated. From where it perished, a "bird" woke in its place, and the arrow disappeared. It lingered for a while, before flying away into the deeper parts of the forest.

"Who..."

Then a figure jumped down from the top of the trees, right where the thing had last been. They had a green bow in their hands, with an arrow notched on it that looked like the one that shot the thing. They looked around with their piercing emerald eyes, green hair (?) swaying in the breeze. They had on a grass-green tunic (although it looked more like a dress of some sort from Fire's perspective), with a darker shaded pair of pants. Along with the bow, they carried a quiver on their back. A brilliant gem sat on their forehead, gleaming in the sunlight that seeped through the shades of the trees.

They looked like... him.

Well, not really, but still. Fire Spirit had not seen another cookie, ever, in all his days in the valley. And this cookie was so... stunning. So graceful.

Fire Spirit watched in awe as the figure looked around, likely trying to find other purple-smoke thingies. He didn't realize that the fire on his head started emitting heart-shaped sparks, and he also didn't realize that he was a bit hotter than usual. He continued watching the figure behind the rock.

They're so...

But then the figure suddenly looked up, and gazed straight at the place he was hiding. Fire Spirit quickly ducked, but he was obviously noticed, since an arrow landed right next to him a second later, and he yelped in surprise.

"I KNOW YOU'RE THERE, FALLEN SPIRIT! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME, COWARD!"

Oh. The archer is a boy.

Oh welp. Looks like I'm gay.

Fire Spirit had nowhere to run, however. If he flew out right now, there might be a chance he would get shot. So all he did was hide behind the rock. The cookie seemed to be plant based, so there's no way that he can go into the valley, right?

He peeked over the rock again, and to his horror, the cookie was already making his way towards him. He could hear him mumbling something that sounded like "I'm gonna get you, fallen spirit..."

Well. If he dies, at least he's dying to someone handsome.

However, his thoughts were cut short when he heard someone calling "WINDY! Get over here this INSTANT!" from the forest.

And then he heard a loud groan from just meters behind him. "I just have to shoot th-"

"NOW. Don't make me come get you, young man!"

Another groan, and then a "Coming..." (Cuming?!!!😱😱😱). Fire Spirit couldn't help but peek over the rock again. He saw the green cookie retreating back to the forest, with what seemed to be another cookie waiting for him behind the forest border. The other cookie had what seemed like wooden horns, and was way taller than both of them.

"You're in big trouble, you know that? How many times did I tell you NOT to go into the valley to shoot fallen spirits? They aren't threatening us, so we should leave them alone!"

"Yeah, but-"

"Ah ah ah, I don't want to hear that again! You're grounded!"

Cue the groans and the complaining. But what Fire Spirit concluded to be the green cookie's father ignored him and dragged him into the forest.

...Wow.

That left Fire Spirit in a dilemma. He wants to go into the forest to go find that cookie... He couldn't stop thinking about him, even if he DID try to kill him. But... He hasn't learned how to fully control his fire yet. He can't hurt the forest now more than ever... if he does, he'd be hurting the green cookie he oh so wanted to meet.

Agh! It's so frustrating... I want to go meet him now!

...no. I have to learn to control it first. And if I start now, I might be able to meet him as soon as I can!

So he started his own routine. And every day as he trains, he dreams of the day he can step into the forest and go find that cookie. Whoever it is.

...

btw, if you're wondering, FS hasn't figured out that he can revive using the bead yet, so that's why he was so afraid of WA shooting him.