Blinded By Time

Part 1

Flint had glided quickly down the path of the forest, dodging trees as fast as he could. He didn't bother to see if Simon had caught up but eventually stopped with the path. Simon caught up shortly after Flint had stopped, he was a bit exhausted but quickly got his energy back. 'Hurry up! The town is right up ahead!' Flint signed quickly to Simon and sped forward through a thick block of trees. Seconds later a loud screech came from behind the trees and Flint sped back through. Simon, who was following immediately stopped and was startled by the screech, he then yelled out "Flint! Are you okay?" Flint looked up at Simon and fell flat on his face, a couple hands appearing in front of Simon's face, 'There's a river up there.. It's huge!' He looked up slowly to Simon. Simon then crouched down and looked at Flint and said, "Don't worry, I'll come up with a way to get across it." He walked up to the river and sat down on a rock but ended up just going through it because he was a ghost and fell down on his back. Flint slowly emerged from behind the trees and helped Simon up. He looked back over to the river and suppressed a shudder, 'I have an idea..' A stack of hands then laid out in front in front of the river shore, Flint then carefully glided over them and made more appear as a bridge. Simon followed along and floated across under the bridge to catch Flint just incase something went wrong. "Be careful up there!" He called out. Flint looked down nervously and back to his hands, noticing that they burst into flames after he glided over them. Instantly Flint started to rush across the river, quickly making it to the other side. All the hands disappeared and Flint fell to the ground. Simon managed to catch Flint before he hit the river then floated to the other side and put him down. Simon was worried for him then said in a caring tone, "Thank god you're okay."
Flint let out a loud groan and put a couple hands over his face, 'Alright, let's keep going, maybe there's something or someone in town to help..' He slowly got up and started gliding away from the river. Simon followed Flint while messing around with shapeshifting on his hand, while doing that and walking through a tree, he asked, "So how far away should this town be?" 'Right up here..' Flint moved through a couple more trees and the two made it into a bigger town, people walking around and stopping to look at Flint and what they could see of Simon. After a little while they continued on their way. Flint started gliding forwards, 'Hey, I think people can see you better now! But you gotta get used to being solid when you want to..' Simon stopped next to him then said, "Yeah, I should soon." The town was a nice place, most of the buildings were made out of stone which relieved Simon, he then decided to change his hand back to normal. "Honestly, I can't remember the last person I spoke to that wasn't you." He then said. Flint looked back at him sadly and kept on moving, moving to a nearby inn, 'Well, now you can talk to some other people!' Flint glided into the inn with Simon and the lady at the desk looked at them oddly. Simon was a bit overjoyed by this, even though she probably was judging them horribly right now. "Hi, so... we would like to rent a room for the night please, and we'd prefer that it had a fireplace." He said. The lady stared at them and simply handed them a key, a random hand taking the key from her. Flint glided up stairs and made sure Simon was behind him, 'It's good now that you can do all the talking for me.' "Yeah." He said as he continued to walk up the stairs, "Now I don't have to just draw what you're saying on a piece of paper." He thought about how one time ended up with someone hiring a priest a clean the house of demons. Flint chuckled and opened the door, walking in the room and looking around. "Ooooo! The fireplace is huge!' Flint immediately glided over and went inside the fireplace, looking over to Simon. Simon had laughed a bit and was glad to see that Flint was happy, he turned on a lamp then sat down on the bed, "This room is pretty big too." He then realized that they haven't paid the woman yet and they didn't even have any money. "So what are we gonna do? We haven't really paid the woman at the desk yet." Flint kept quiet for a minute and summoned a few hands near Simon, 'We don't have money, I guess we'll just see what they say..' Flint then yawned and the hands fell to the floor as he drifted off to sleep. Simon was anxious to see what would happen tomorrow but he decided to just wait until tomorrow. He then floated up into the air, laid on his back and went to sleep.
Simon was woken up by a loud screech coming from Flint. Someone had ran out of the room and dropped a bucket on his way out. Smoke was moving out from the fireplace and Flint was struggling to get out. Simon immediately floated down to the ground to see Flint, "What the hell did he do to you?" He asked in an entirely worried tone. Flint let out a pained tone and managed to summon one hand that had started melting, 'he, tried to put me out...' More than half of his body had distorted, either completely gone or simply moved down to the wrong place. Simon had a mixed emotion of rage and sympathy, he ran over to a cabinet and began searching around. He found a box of matches and a lighter, he went back to flint then said, "Will these help?" However, his hand began changing shape erratically and quickly, it caused him to drop the matches then mutter, "What the hell?" Flint looked over curiously and tried to keep a light mood even as part of his face started to shift downward. The melting hand started to move over to Simon, 'what, is it?' Simon had no control over his left hand, all he did was stare at it, he tried to hold it down with his right hand but his left hand was completely uncontrollable, "I... Don't know, I'm not even doing this." He had a horrified expression on his face. Flint managed to get up and slowly glide over to Simon, 'Simon...?' Flint looked up at him, extremely worried. 'What's going on...' Simon's right hand then returned to normal, "Jesus Christ what was that? Anyways, let's get you back to normal." He then picked up the lighter and lit it near Flint, he still had a slightly horrified expression. Flint moved away from the lighter and stared at Simon's hand, looking like if he could he would have cried right then and there. 'Simon... Please, I know what's going on..' Simon was confused, he put down the lighter then said, "What do you mean?" He looked at his hand for a second. 'I turn into a monster when I get angry.. Somebody almost killed me, it's obvious...' Flint put his hand on his head and backed up further, 'I did this.. no no no no no..' he continued yelling at himself without the signs. Simon felt sympathy for the fire but he didn't really believe it's theory. "Hey, I was just kinda stressed out, you didn't cause any of this at all, plus I recently discovered how to do it so I should also learn how to control it." He said in a caring tone."Anyways, let's get you back to normal." Flint just watched him and slumped down to the ground, the melted hand disappearing. Without his hands to speak in signs he just babbled to himself, letting Simon do whatever he wanted to do. Simon then took some wood and placed it into the fireplace and lit it on fire, he then looked at Flint feeling sympathy for him. Flint looked over and crawled into the fireplace, bursting into a bright red flame once coming into contact with it. He made a happy expression and looked back to Simon, instantly growing sad again. Simon looked at Flint and then said, "Alright, do you need help getting into the fire?" Flint shook his head and laid down in the fireplace, his color returning to normal. Flint did his best to keep calm as he looked at Simon. Simon had a little bit of a happy expression, he still thought about what happened to his hand. "So what now?" He asked. Flint looked away from Simon and shook his head, pretending to go to sleep. Simon sighed and believed that trick. He then decided to take a nap because the night before he had gotten about 2 hours of sleep. By the time that Simon woke up, Flint was now actually sound asleep in the fireplace, somehow snoring loudly. A few normal hands and the melted one were making odd signs while he slept.Simon chuckled a bit then sat up to observe the hands, he also decided to call it sleepsigning. The melted hand started to twitch randomly, making out strange words, if they could be called that. 'Mongnbster, fryuehack..' the words couldn't be made out normally but the hand did seem to be trying very hard. Simon watched the melted hand, he could only determine one of the words it was signing which was monster, he thought about how Flint could possibly be having some kind of nightmare. The other hands started to twitch too, making Flint in the fireplace tense up. The normal two hands disappeared as Flint started to wake up, but the melted hand stayed, well, part of it did. Half of it was stuck, unable to disappear. Simon saw Flint wake up, "Good afternoon." He said in a slightly cheerful tone, "So you were doing signs while you were sleeping, did you have some kind of nightmare?" the rest of the hand disappeared once Flint fully woke up, but hearing Simon made Flint jump back in the fireplace and scream. Simon was slightly startled by this and backed away a bit, "Woah... What's wrong?" Simon had a feeling the nightmare was about him. The screaming had turned into what sounded like sobbing, though Flint couldn't cry. A couple hands appeared on his face and another in front of Simon, 'You scared me, I'm sorry.' the hand showed no emotion but rushed through to finish the sentence. Simon could clearly tell that something was wrong with Flint . "Flint..." He asked, "Did you have some kind of nightmare?" Flint shuddered and his flame turned a dark blue, almost black. He shook his head as fast as he could and moved further back in the fireplace. Simon was incredibly worried for the fire, he had a strong feeling that the nightmare was about him. "Flint, I'm not gonna do anything to you." He said with an incredibly worried tone. Flint slumped down and didn't look back at Simon, 'I know, I'm sorry. I did have a nightmare.' Simon felt relieved with Flint calming down. "Awww, can you tell me what it's about?" He said in a caring tone but was worried of what the nightmare was about, part of him didn't want to know about it. Flint took a moment before explaining, 'Something really bad happened to me.. You were so angry and..' the hand in front of Simon trembled and exploded, making Flint flinch. Simon jumped back at the explosion, he was also kinda scared to hear the rest. "It's okay." He said. "You can tell me about it later." Simon walked back to the bed while hiding the horrified expression on his face. Flint slumped down further in the fireplace, eventually crawling up and making it to the roof. Simon looked back and saw that Flint was gone, "Flint?!" He yelled as he walked up to the fireplace and looked up the chimney. Flint's fire was creeping down the chimney from the top, showing that he was only sitting on the edge. He said nothing in response to Simon. Simon was worried for Flint and what he saw in his dream. "Flint." He called out, "Is there something wrong?" Flint looked over and crawled down the chimney, sitting quietly in the fireplace, 'I want to go around the town.. I need some fresh air..' Simon gave Flint a cheerful expression then said, "Alright, where would you like to go?" 'Anywhere, let's just go around town..' Flint moved out from the fireplace and out the door, not bothering to check if Simon was following him. Simon caught up to Flint and followed him out of the door still thinking about the nightmare Flint had. Flint didn't say anything else to Simon as they made it down and out to the village. He ignored the looks they got and decided to glide down the street peacefully. Simon caught up to Flint and walked next to him, "So, you seem kinda off today." He said in a caring tone, he looked at Flint as he said that, he was worried for him and hoped that nothing bad was gonna happen. Flint said nothing in response, just continuing down the street silently. He hissed in pain as something hit him, making smoke burst off from a spot on his back. Simon approached flint looking at him then said in a worried tone, "What happened?" Flint started to shake and looked around nervously, 'Someone threw something on me..' A couple of teenagers were standing behind the two, holding water balloons, "You freaks, what are you doing around here?!" Simon looked at them and sighed, "Just ignore them." He whispered to Flint, he had hoped that Flint would just leave them be and that Flint wouldn't end up going into his other form. Flint did his best to ignore the teenagers, continuing on the road with Simon. They threw another water balloon at Flint, this time hitting his head. The balloon exploded and showered Flint, making him scream. The teens held their ground, though truly startled by Flint's reaction. Simon then decided to walk behind Flint trying to block any balloons that came their way. He got hit by three of them, one on his vest, one on his right leg and one on his neck. Flint trembled and tried to keep calm, listening to Simon. Simon continued to walk down the street when he got hit directly in the head, he sighed and took deep breaths, "Let's stop at the building over there." He pointed at a restaurant. Flint shook his head rapidly, moving down the street a bit faster, 'No buildings, I don't want to burn anything right now..' Flint lied to himself and Simon, trying to keep himself in a lighter mood. "Let's just go into that alley then." He pointed over to a nearby alley. Flint nodded slowly and stayed next to Simon's side, 'That nightmare..you were just mad, like as mad as I get, it scared me... I just felt like it was my fault..' Flint slowed down and looked away from Simon. Simon looked in confusion and was wondering why Flint was scared of him just for being mad. "Well, all I was was just mad, I know it doesn't really happen frequently but.. sometimes it does." Flint came to a stop and looked down at the ground, a worried expression on his face. He said nothing in response to Simon. Simon was still confused as to why Flint was so upset over him being mad in a dream, he decided to do something that always cheered Flint up when he was upset and shapeshifted his right arm to make it look like it was made out of fire. Flint looked up to see Simon's arm which made him shriek. He sped out of the alley and tripped over the curb, falling flat on his face in the street. Simon ran up to Flint and changed his arm back to normal, he helped Flint up then said, "That was quite a fall, are you okay?" Flint looked up to Simon and managed to calm down, getting up slowly on his own. He glared across Simon's shoulder seeing that the teens had come back.
Simon looked behind himself. "What the he-" A balloon had hit him directly in his face and he ended up falling down and hitting his head on the curb, which knocked him out instantly. Several hands helped up Simon and Flint just glared at the kids, since he couldn't talk to them. After the hands had disappeared, Simon fell back down again mainly because he was unconscious. Flint helped him stay up and continued glaring at the teens. "so, you gonna say anything freak, or are you just gonna watch us?" Flint shuddered as his flame flickered white, but he did his best to keep calm. Simon hadn't regained consciousness, but something else woke up, his lower right arm began changing shape rapidly as he was unconscious. He then was barely awake himself as he layed on the ground with his eyes barely open. Flint looked down and dropped Simon, letting out a scream once he saw his arm. The teens just threw another water balloon at Flint without noticing Simon, making him scream louder. Something else in Simon suddenly woke up completely, the changing then spread out to his entire arm which tore off the sleeve a little. Flint backed up quickly from Simon, a terrified look on his face as he watched his friend. Something in Simon opened his eyes completely, the changing spread to his legs as the trail behind his head began to disappear as he got up slowly. . 'simon..?' Flint let out an odd sound as he watched him, still backing up carefully. Simon was barely awake but something else was and it was taking control of him. Simon managed to get himself to let out a faint, "help..." the changes began to affect most of his body such as his his lower body and his left arm, his right hand however began to look like a large marshmallow. Flint stared at him, not terrified anymore but sad. Simon didn't want this to happen, he didn't want this to be happening at all. Before his entire body had taken the marshmallow appearance and his head began to sink into his shoulders, he let out something that was barely even a whisper, "leave..." His face then had succumbed into transforming into something like a mask. Flint couldn't move, he was stuck to the ground. He couldn't look away from Simon, nevermind move. A hand appeared and Flint only hoped that Simon could see, 'I'm not leaving you..' by now the teens had run away. Simon had lost complete control of his movements, he looked at Flint and then he thought, Oh god please run, I don't want to hurt you. He wanted to cry but he couldn't, all he could do was just think. "Simon" then glided somewhere else. 'SIMON.' Flint sped after him, continuously tripping over himself as he tried to keep up, 'Simon...' Flint started to slow down, following behind whatever Simon was now. "Simon" looked behind itself and sped up largely. Simon then thought, Oh god please stay away from me... Flint moved even faster next to "Simon". 'Simon please.. don't.. Simon..' Flint struggled to keep up, hoping that Simon would listen. Simon listened however, "Simon" didn't. Simon was basically internally screaming as he made multiple attempts to take back control of himself but he couldn't. "Simon" suddenly punched a hole in a wall. NO! Simon screamed in his mind. Flint stopped suddenly and started to shrink into the ground, 'I knew this was going to happen.. you didn't listen.' flint let out something similar to a weep as he watched Simon. "Simon" continued to destroy some buildings as Simon screamed in his mind, HELP! OH GOD SOMEBODY HELP ME! Hoping that someone could hear. Flint took a little while before deciding to move a hand over to Simon's shoulder. He tapped him gently, '..Simon..?' "Simon" turned around while Simon thought, no no NO! "Simon" was about to smack Flint when Simon suddenly managed to gain control and stop "Simon" "AAAAAAAAA" Simon yelled as he put his hand down, he then sighed in relief. "Oh thank god." He muttered, he noticed that his voice was different, he looked at his hand and began to notice that it was starting to droop a little. Flint watched Simon and shook his head, 'What's happening?! Simon!?' Flint rushed over to him, examining his hand. Simon was horrified, he wanted to do something but he couldn't, he feels diminished of energy. "I... don't..." He sudden felt like his entire body was beginning to melt, which it was. Flint started to panic, moving under Simon and trying to support him. 'Stay together, please.. please..' Flint shuddered and summoned two hands which moved on Simon's back and squeezed him closer to Flint like a hug. The hands unfortunately didn't help, he continued to melt but he held one with his right one as he went down, soon he was about the size of a large puddle. Flint just stared at the ground, the hands moving through where Simon was, 'Simon.. No...' Soon enough, all there was was just a large puddle with a mask floating in it. Flint shook his head and slowly one of the hands picked up the mask. After a while Flint let out an odd wailing sound, sinking further into the ground and for the first time he said a word, even if it was shaky, "Ssimonn.." Suddenly, the masked floated from Flints hand back to the puddle, and it became engulfed by the liquid, then the liquid came together and formed a floating sphere, it had a glass like substance suddenly shielding it, then part of the head began to trail off as two glowing yellow eyes formed in the mint colored sphere. A familiar voice came from the sphere, "Christ... What happened back there?" Flint looked up and screamed, scrambling up and trying to glide away. He tripped again and looked back to whatever Simon was now, 'Simon...?' The wisp looked confused "Yeah, it's me, Flint." The wisp looked around at the destroyed buildings. "What happened around here? And where did the rest of me go?" He looked down. 'you don't.. remember..?' flint moved back slowly and over to the whisp, '..I did this.. This is all my fault, Simon..' "I don't really remember anything, all I remember is getting hit by a water balloon and then waking up as a Wisp, and I don't see how this is your fault." Simon wondered what has happened to the city, and he knew that something else did this, not Flint. 'You, did all this.. but it's my fault... I told you, when I get mad I change, I.. influenced you..' Flint shuddered and his flame turned dark blue. Simon thought for a bit. "Wait, how? I can barely lift 30 pounds how can I do all of this?" 'Simon, you changed..' Flint shuddered even more until his flame became unstable. Simon suddenly was surprised, "Oh..." Suddenly some of the memories began to come back, he remembered "waking" up and transforming. "But... I didn't do any of this, something was controlling me." He was horrified. Flint shook his head and slumped down, 'I did this...' Simon gave Flint a comforting look, "No you didn't, something else di-". He stopped when he began to notice that his body was beginning to reform into its normal appearance. Flint didn't watch, but decided to move up and glide out from the city and over to a nearby forest without Simon. Simon didn't notice Flint leaving, when his full body came back he was overjoyed, "Oh my god! Flint look!" He said in a cheerful tone as he turned around and saw that no one was there. "Oh.." He began to follow the trail of flames. Flint was deep into the forest by the time Simon had made it to the edge. After a few minutes, Flint could be seen emerging from the top in his other form, brushing past the now tiny trees with ease. Once Simon had reached where the flames began to increase in size, he muttered, "Oh no." He began floating faster while following the trail. "Flint" heard something and whipped his massive head around to where Simon was. He lowered it and stared at Simon angrily, his head only slightly bigger than Simon himself. Simon began worring for Flint greatly, "Okay Flint, I'm back to normal, please calm down, everything's back to normal now." Flint was so hot that even from the distance they were at, Flint started to burn Simon's vest. He let out a low rumble and puffed smoke out from his mouth. Simon was then covered with smoke. "Okay I know you're upset but you're not only hurting the forest, but you're also hurting me, it hurts me to see you like this!" He yelled out. "Flint" just looked at him blankly, giving out another puff of smoke and fell to the forest floor, shaking the ground. Flint didn't bother to change back but frowned sadly at Simon. Simon walked up the the forehead and began rubbing it in a caring way, "It's okay,
Everything will be okay." The head ended up burning Simons vest off and part of his shirt which revealed the mask which was inside of his chest. "What the hell?"
Flint noticed and moved his head up along with Simon. A giant hand moved over behind Flint and signed slowly, 'oh.. god.. Simon..'
Simon looked in horror at where the mask was, "I... I don't know how this got here." He began to think about what caused this. Flint carefully moved his head back down to the ground so Simon wouldn't fall down, 'It's... from.. when.. you.. changed..' "Jesus Christ..." Simon said. While he thought about this he suddenly had a flashback of how he died, it was after a case had gone wrong for a man he knew he was innocent, as he walked out of the courtroom, he tried to hide his stress and rage like he usually did but ended up suffering a fatal heart attack and fell down. Simon then came back from the trance, "I know what caused this." Flint watched him in a questioningly manner, a stitched hand slamming down next to them to help talk, 'What, is it?' "You know how I was a lawyer before I died? Well, a case ended up going horribly for a man I knew was innocent and I ended up just getting filled up with so much rage and stress, I tried to hide it but then I ended up having a heart attack and died." Simon then sat down next to the hand. Flint nodded slowly and frowned, letting the hand move up on two fingers and dance around Simon. Eventually he grew tired and let it fall down, now smiling. Simon smiled back and looked at the hand suddenly, an abundance of stressful thoughts ended up swarming his mind such as, Why did I become a ghost? How could Flint see me after I died? And many other thoughts like that, he began showing a stressful expression. Flint noticed and moved the hand over to Simon's side, 'What's, wrong...?' Simon looked at the head, "It's.. Nothing, I'll be right back I just need to take a walk." Simon then walked into the forest. Flint didn't even have to move to follow Simon, he had already engulfed most of the forest so he just watched as Simon walked around. Simon was overwhelmed with stress, he then suddenly felt like he was changing but, he was still in control of his movements so then he transformed into the marshmallow man except that he was a lot larger than when he first transformed into one.
Flint watched Simon move along and noticed that something was wrong. He leaned his head in closer to see what had happened to Simon. Once he noticed that Simon changed he moved up quickly, a low rumbling coming from his throat. Once Simon realized that he was about half the size of Flint and that he looked a lot more distorted, he said, "I just want to let you know, I'm in full control of my body right now." Flint quickly calmed down and let a hand gently pat against Simon's back, 'It's, okay.. I'm just, nervous, now..' Flint frowned and moved down closer to Simon. "It's okay." Simon said in a caring tone, "There is nothing to be worried about." In a way, Simon felt kinda closer to Flint. Flint watched him and put his hands behind Simon's back, giving him a hug again. He squeezed him, remembering how he struggled to hold Simon together making him squeeze him tighter. Simon then hugged back then realized that he might have to go through that painful process again, Oh well. He thought. Flint shuddered and tried to calm himself down, making sure not to make anything worse. After hugging Simon for a little while longer he calmed down, realizing that he was still "solid", 'Sorry..' Flint frowned and looked away from Simon, moving up straight again. Simon then said, "It's okay." Simon felt bad for the large fire, he then decided to go back to normal and shrink down. Flint just watched him and slumped back down to the ground, letting his head rest next to Simon so he could actually see him. One of the hands slowly moved over, 'I don't, feel like, changing..' He let out a grumble and a puff of smoke. Simon was slightly worried, "Why?" He asked, he was scared that Flint might not be able to change back.
"I'm, tired......and lazy..' Flint grinned slightly and let his fire die down a bit so it didn't damage whatever was left of the forest, 'Plus, I have, a mouth now..' "Yeah." Simon said, "So... Want me to change back?" 'Whatever..' Flint grinned a little more and watched Simon, his light illuminating the ground as it grew darker. Simon chuckled a little bit then decided to go to sleep instead of changing back. Flint watched Simon as he fell asleep and decided to rest the side of his head against Simon, thinking it would keep him warm. Did ghosts need to be warm? Simon is different, he's probably cold..
Simon woke up but felt like something was different, he then realized that he was still cold even though he was standing next to the head of a giant fire. Flint had fallen asleep next to Simon, though his head started to fall against Simon. Simon decided to step towards the head hoping that it would warm him up but it didn't, he still felt cold. Flint slowly woke up and heated up a bit more, 'What, is it, Simon?' He signed to him slowly. "Oh it's just.. I think that I can't really get warm anymore." He looked away for a little bit. Flint frowned slightly and looked at Simon, heating up even more to see if he could make him warm. Simon felt the same however, he began to think that the first time he changed did this to him. He had a sad expression. Flint heated up even more, burning trees in an even farther radius just to get Simon warm. He strained himself to the point where one of his normal hands exploded, and he decided to stay at a normal temperature. Once Simon saw a hand explode, he then said, "Okay you can stop, I don't want you to put yourself in danger." Flint nodded slowly and settled down, keeping his head on the ground and letting the stitched hand fall next to him, 'So.. tired.. why..?' Simon was concerned for Flint, "Probably because you overexerted yourself trying to keep me warm." 'yesterday, too..' Flint let out a yawn loud enough to reach past the city and enough smoke to make it hard to navigate through the trees, 'Good morning, though..' Simon whipped the smoke off of his face, "Good morning to you too." Flint grinned weakly and carefully scooped up Simon in his hand. Another new hand appeared and moved over, waving terribly slowly to Simon. All of Flint's movements were slower than normal and his hands looked like they were cramping up.
Simon noticed that there was something wrong with Flint and was concerned for him, "Flint.. Is everything alright with you? You seem kinda tired." 'Fine.. Im.. yeah..' Flint opened up his mouth to take in air easier, letting smoke seep out, 'don't, feel well, I guess...' Simon knew something was definitely wrong, "Maybe you should return to normal." 'I'm, good.. I can't, change now any.. any...... anyways..' He took a while to figure out the signs, 'I'm just.. real lazy today..' "Hm.." Simon said, he was worried for Flint and feared the worst but he decided to keep things positive. "So what's the plan for today?" 'Don't know... it's gettin kinda, cold though, you think..?' He looked over at Simon and yawned again. "Yeah, it was kinda warm yesterday." Simon began to feel colder. Flint frowned and put his head against Simon again, 'Don't be, cold...' His hand pushed a finger against Simon's back to squish him against Flint's face. Simon's vest and shirt began to burn off, he still felt the same however. "Shit. I don't feel any warmer." 'it's, okay.. At least, we're closer, and I'm not hurting, you...' Flint managed a weak grin but struggled to get signs out, nevermind speak along with them. Simon looked at Flint in a worried way, "Flint, maybe you should take a nap or something." Flint let his head droop against Simon, 'Way, ahead of.. you..' Flint had fallen asleep against Simon in his palm, snoring peacefully. Simon had decided to go to sleep too, only because he pretty much had nothing else to do.
By the time that Flint woke up it had started sprinkling, barely even making him flinch, 'Simon.. wake up..' Simon got up and yawned. "Good morning, what time is it?" 'it's too, cloudy, to tell...' Rain continued to sprinkle across Flint, but he showed no sign of pain. Simon looked up and saw the clouds, "Awh." He said, "So when can you change back to normal?" Most of the forest had disappeared and was covered with ash. 'I don't.. know..' Flint let smoke out of mouth and looked back to Simon, 'I don't feel.. well..' Simon began to stress a little but it wasn't really much stress. "Crap, why?" Simon sat back down on a tree stump. Flint let out a groan, his flame having a slight greenish tone, 'The, thing with you spooked me.. I think, I'm sick..' "Awwww." Simon the said in a caring tone, "I think I'm developing a cold myself." He felt colder than he did yesterday. Flint looked over at Simon and took a moment, '..I, said your name..' Simon gave out a confused expression then said, "What are you talking about?" 'I actually.. talked, said your name..' Flint looked away sadly.. "I believe you but, I don't really remember you doing that, you probably said my name while I was... well, you know..." Simon looked away for a moment then looked back at Flint. Flint looked away and frowned, his flame turning even more of a sickly green. Simon wondered how a fire could get sick, he just ignored the thought and then asked, "If you want to, we could just stay here all day." Flint shook his massive head and slowly got up, looking around the now burnt forest and around it. A giant hand then appeared next to Simon, 'Let's, start moving...' Simon stood up and began walking next to the giant flame hoping that continued exposure to his heat would warm him up, but it didn't. Flint looked down to the now tiny figure and let out a puff of smoke from his mouth, 'I don't, mean to bring this, back up.. But you really scared me.. when you changed..' "I can understand why you were." Simon looked around, "The first time you changed I was pretty scared too." Flint looked away and slammed the hands against his face, another one moving along side with Simon, 'I'm.. sorry..' Simon felt guilty for making him feel bad, "It's okay, I'm sorry too." He felt colder as the continued to walk. After a while each of Flint's hands fell to the ground as Flint started to slow down. He slumped over and eventually came to a stop. Simon stopped as well then said, "Hopefully you get better soon." He put a hand on Flint's back. Flint just stared at the ground and said nothing, but one of the hands moving behind him, 'I. M. S. O. R. R.Y...' Simon began to feel worried for Flint, "Flint, there's nothing you need to feel sorry for, you have done nothing wrong."
Flint slowly looked over to Simon and whimpered, eventually melting and spreading far across whatever was left of the forest. He looked back to Simon and tried to get up straight. "FLINT!" Simon yelled out, the fire which was going through is lower legs began to burn the pants a little, he ran over to Flint's head, well, what was left of it. Flint let out a whine and shook his head slowly, 'Simm...on..' a hand behind him struggled to make the signs as Flint spread out more. Simon had no idea what to do, he was furious with himself knowing that he couldn't think of anything to save his friend, he felt like that he'd never been this mad, suddenly, his right arm began to change rapidly and the whole process began again. Flint looked back to Simon and let out a low screech when he saw his arm. Slowly and painfully Flint made his way back up, facing away from Simon still struggling to stay together. The process was a lot more painful than Simon had remembered, he screamed in pain as distortion began to take over his entire body. Flint couldn't watch, even though he knew that in this form Simon wouldn't be able to hurt him. He just didn't want to watch his friend go through this again. As "Simon" began to take over Simon, his body changed into the marshmallow form except that he was larger than last time he uncontrollably changed and his entire body looked distorted, the mask appeared in a somewhat melted form near where his head should be. Flint slowly looked back down to Simon, a loud growl moving out from his throat, 'Si...mmonn..' He slowly backed up, the hands struggling to keep up. Simon couldn't hear or see anything, frost had appeared on his hands, the mask then looked at Flint then looked away, "Simon" then glided away. Flint summoned a few more giant hands and carefully picked up "Simon", keeping him at a safe distance, 'Please...' "Simon" then fought the hands, forcing them away from him while attempting to glide away. Flint just picked him up again and kept a tighter grip this time, 'S..siimonn, I kknow you'rre tthere...' "Simon" had screeched sharply and continued to force his way out of Flints grasp, Simon was still asleep. Flint didn't let "Simon" move out of his grasp and decided that maybe he needed to be shaken to be woken up. And that's what he did, with 5 hands holding onto "Simon" they all shook vigorously in the same direction. While it did wake Simon up, it only made "Simon" angrier, "Simon" tried harder to break free while Simon tried to take back control. Flint held Simon still and put him close to his chest, squeezing him as hard as he could, 'Pl..easse..' "Simon" became more distorted as the mask began to droop more. Simon began to regain some control of his body. Flint rested his head against Simon and squeezed him even tighter than before, "Ssimmonnn..." He spoke again as he too started to move further into the ground. Simon had fully regained control of his body as he began to melt through the hands, a distorted voice screamed in pain. Flint watched as Simon melted through his grasp and he let out a pained scream, trying to pull Simon back together. Simon continued to melt onto the ground as he went through Flint's hands, he let out a scream as parts of him fell to the ground, the mask began to return to normal however.
Flint just held onto the now tiny mask, watching it blankly. He knew what was going to happen so he decided not to do anything. The mask floated out of Flints grasp and floated to the small puddle, the puddle began to reform into a sphere. What was now "Fint" had just faced the sphere, all of the hands around him disappearing and his flame growing hotter than before.
The sphere formed a protective layer, of whatever material ghosts were made of, a part of the sphere began to trail trail off while two bright ovals formed somewhere near the center. "Flint" had no reaction, but instead he straightened up. Something wasn't right, Flint was always slouched over and would've been happy to see Simon. "Flint" did nothing. The sphere's eyes widened and looked up, "Hey Flint! Sorry for what happened back there." He noticed Flint's silence, "Flint.. is there something wrong?" Not Flint started to glide back to the city they were at a few days before, his flame now just a solid white. He eventually slowed down, remembering where he was and what happened, he let out a ear piercing screech and started to shrink down until he was back to normal. The sphere caught up to Flint, not noticing the trail of mintish mist he was leaving behind, "So I'm glad to see you back to normal, also, thanks for holding me back earlier." Flint heard Simon and let out a drawn out whine, covering his face. He fell to the ground and curled up in a ball. "Flint!" Simon shouted out, he floated down where his face was, "Are you okay?" He was worried for the little flame. 'Simon, SIMON' Flint summoned a pile of hands to move around him like a dome so he couldn't be touched. One moved out in front of Simon, 'Where are you, I'm scared.. Simon..' "I'm in front of you..." Simon said, "Why did you cover yourself with hands?" Simon began to reform into his normal body. 'I'm scared...Don't, don't touch me..' He whined again and the hands moved in closer to him. Simon's body had fully reformed. "Flint it's okay, I'm back to normal so there is no reason to be scared..." Simon said that in a caring tone. 'I feel vulnerable, I'm scared, scared... sccaarr.....' The hands started to melt as Flint screamed again, trying to move away from Simon. "FLINT!" Simon yelled out, he walked closer to the fire, "Oh god... are you okay?" Simon began to think that himself was to blame for this. 'NOO' Flint shot up from the ground and burst into a white fire, 'I, wish I couldn't be hurt as easily... my other form is so much better, it's not, FAIR' Flint flailed out and slammed all the hands to the ground. Simon backed away and stared up at the monster he then yelled out, "FLINT!" He didn't know what to say, " Well in your other form, you look a lot more friendly and cause A LOT less fires!" He still felt cold and frost began to cover his hands. Flint growled and shook his head, 'Simon... why can't I just..feel safe, all the time..' he frowned and covered his face. "Well... I heard rumors about some underground town where you could feel safe." Frost had entirely covered Simon's hands and the frost just sorta faded out on his elbow. Flint took a moment to understand what Simon said, but once he got it he went back to his normal form, moving over and hugging Simon, 'I'm.. so.. sorry...' It sounded like Flint was crying, but instead of tears a stream of flames simply ran down Simon's back. Simon then hugged back, "It's okay, I forgive you..." He said in a very caring tone, "Now the town is about 5 miles away, should we go?" Flint nodded and and moved away from Flint, fire still streaming down from his eyes. 'Yeah.. Let's go..' Simon nodded back "Alright, follow me." He began walking to the town while making sure that Flint was following him, while leaving behind a trail of mist without noticing. Flint struggled to keep up with Simon, normally he never got exhausted but for some reason he was still tired than normal. 'Simon.. wait..' Simon then stopped and turned around, "What's wrong?" He asked.
Flint fell down to the ground and let out another long whine, 'I still don't feel good.. Everything hurts...' Simon looked at Flint, "Do you wanna stop for a little bit?" he was concerned for Flint. Flint looked like if he could he would have puked, but his flame just turned a darker green, 'I don't want to move..' A shaky hand moved over to Simon, grabbing his arm. Simon had a concerned expression, "We can lie down here if you would like to." The mist behind him had disappeared. He kept quiet for a few seconds and let the hand fall to the floor, 'I, said your name again....' "Yeah... I noticed." Simon sat down on a nearby rock. Flint looked over at Simon and and covered his face. 'I didn't know I'd be able to do it again, it was weird...' Simon gave Flint an understanding look, "Yeah... I still find it amazing that you were able to say my name though." Flint looked like he was about to cry again as he looked up to Simon, 'It hurt.. I don't know why..' "Hmm...' Simon thought about it for a second, "Well, it's the first time you've ever successfully spoke english, that's probably why." 'It wasn't even successful..' He frowned and tried to get up, falling back down. His flame turned a green so dark it was almost black, 'Uugh.. This hurts..'
Simon looked at Flint, "You should probably get some rest after a day like this." He hadn't noticed the frost covering his hands. Flint looked over and tried to get up again, this time falling flat on his face. 'Noo.. What's, wrong with your hands..?' Simon looked confused, "What are you talking abou- oh." He had noticed what was going on with his hands. Flint whined and moved over, sliding his face across the ground, 'Cold, cold.. so cold, aren't you?' He slowly looked up, his face devoid of emotion. Simon looked nervous, "Yeah... I've been feeling freezing all day..." He was worried for himself. "It's... probably just nothing." 'Sure..' Flint tried to get closer to Simon to examine his hands but he started screeching again. He fell back and tried to gather himself as his form started to shift and distort. Simon had a sad expression, "Flint, are you okay?" He then looked down at where his heart should be and began to think that his first transformation might've caused this. Flint stopped moving and just screamed, looking back to Simon and presumably where the mask was. He took a moment to calm himself down and stop screaming, but he couldn't move closer to Simon. Simon backed away a little, "Maybe we could find something at the town that could prevent me from hurting you with these hands." He said in a concerned tone.
'It's, not your hands.. It was me, I'm sorry..' Flint whimpered and kept still on the ground, 'I can't move, but we should get going..' Simon walked up to Flint, "Yeah... want me to carry you?" He hoped that Flint could move soon. Flint nodded slowly and let all the hands disappear and his flame turn back to normal. Simon picked up flint and carried him over his shoulder, "Well, we have 4.83 miles to go.." He began walking to the town. Flint nodded and let his fire die down as he started to fall asleep. 2.65 Miles later, the sun had begun to set, Simon set Flint down on a dry patch of grass and then laid down and went to sleep. By the time Simon woke up, Flint was now sleepsigning, the words he was signing out still making zero sense, but it looked like his hands were fighting each other. Simon chuckled while looking at the hands then noticed that a small sphere of ice had formed on the palm of his hand, it rolled off of it and broke loudly. Flint woke up screaming hearing the ice shatter, the hands moving up in front of him defensively. He was just about ready to change form until he noticed that it was only Simon. Simon jumped back when he saw Flint jump, "IT'S JUST ME!" He yelled out in a panic while accidentally shooting a shard of ice into the ground. Flint screamed again as Simon shot the ice shard into the ground, making him scramble back and away. Simon then screamed again at the sight of seeing himself doing this, "How... how is this happening?" Flint had buried himself under a patch of dirt to get away from Simon. His flame was quivering along with the hands that tried to hide flint. Simon was mortified seeing Flint being scared of him like that "OH GOD I'M SO SORRY!" He shouted out, he clenched his hands hoping that the ice would stop accidentally being conjured up by him. Flint started to weep as he looked over at Simon, making a wall of hands in front of him so Simon couldn't hurt him. Simon looked like as if he were on the verge of tears, horrified by himself, he immediately ran away in a random direction. Flint watched him go and stumbled out under the dirt, hissing in pain as rain poured down on him. He hid back under the dirt and watched sadly as Simon ran away. Simon couldn't tell where he was running nor did he care, he had just possibly killed a great friend, so he continued to just run away.
Hours later after it stopped raining, Flint slowly moved out from under the dirt, surrounded by water. All he could do was stay put. He felt so helpless, alone.. vulnerable.. He started to weep and yelled out, "SSSIMONNN..." Simon was miles away from Flint at this point, he kept running, he felt exhausted but he knew he had to keep going, then suddenly, he passed out. Flint stayed where he was, unable to move from his spot. He just sat, almost ready to let his fire die out. Simon had woken back up to find that he was floating down a river on a sheet of ice, he then realized that Flint was completely paralyzed. "FLIIIINT!" He called out knowing that he basically left his friend in a he middle of the woods, unable to move. Flint heard a bit of Simon's voice and yelled back out, "SSIMMOOOONN.." Flint tried to move closer to where his voice was, but was stopped again. He gave up and slowly crawled back in the dirt patch. Simon heard a bit of Flint's voice and began running over to it, suddenly fulfilled with a large amount of hope, "FLIIIIIIIIIINT!" He continued to call out. Flint struggled to call out again, "SsssiimonnNn.." He did his best, deciding to let a few hands skip over the water and to where he heard Simon. Simon was close to the sound and later found the wandering hands, he crouched down then said, "Hey, do you know where Flint is?" the hands skipped around happily and one pointed over to where Flint was while the other tugged on Simon's vest. Simon picked up the hand on his best and gently placed it on the ground, "Thank you so much..." He began sprinting in the direction one of the hands was pointing to. The hand started moving faster and disappeared once they reached a marshy area. There was a small bump in the ground a few yards away from Simon where flint could be seen, moving further into the ground. Simon almost missed the bump while running by it, he ran back to it brushing off all of the dirt, "Oh thank god!" He muttered in joy. Flint looked out to see Simon and was overwhelmed by joy, 'Simon!' he rushed over and clung onto him, making sure not to touch the water, 'Why did you leave me...?' Simon immediately hugged back, "OH GOD FLINT I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" He then realized that Flint had asked him a question, "Oh... I was horrified seeing that I could've almost killed you and I just sorta ran away in a blind panic." 'It's okay.. that wouldn't have killed me anyways, I was just scared..' Flint backed away from the hug and looked down, something was odd though. A single hand was covering what was presumably his throat. Simon had noticed the hand, "Uh... Why are you covering your throat?" Flint made the hand disappear to reveal that his throat had been literally scratched up. It looked terrible, 'English, doesn't work.. especially when I'm yelling..' Simon cringed a bit at the sight of it, "Well, you probably shouldn't really speak English anymore and just stick with signs." He had a concerned look in his face as he said that. Flint nodded and slowly glided closer to Simon, simply resting his head on Simon's chest, 'I thought you were gone.. I was ready to go out..' Simon had wondered what he meant by, "go out" he was saddened by that, "Flint, please never... Go out..." Simon hugged flint tightly. Flint simply nodded slowly and shuddered as fire slowly streamed down his face and onto Simon's vest, 'I don't, think I could ever leave you..' He whined and chuckled lightly, 'isn't it weird how.. I've been more sad than angry lately..?' The words still stuck in Simon's mind, "go out". "Yeah... and I've kinda been more angry than sad lately." He began to do some form of crying, an icicle had formed on his right eye.
Flint looked up sadly and let Simon squeeze him for a bit longer before speaking up, 'We should head over to that town.. maybe someone can help us there..' "Yeah..." Simon said, he let go the broke the icicle off of his eye and threw it away, "Maybe somebody could explain to us what is happening." Flint nodded against and crawled up and linked himself around Simon's shoulders like a scarf, 'Well, we're halfway there..' he grinned weakly and let his hands disappear. Simon began walking towards the town once again, 30 minutes later, he and Flint had finally reached it. On the way there Flint had decided to take a nap, but by the time they got there he struggled to open his eyes, 'Huh..?' Simon looked at Flint joyfully, "Well, we're here." Flint woke up immediately and moved off of Simon's shoulders. 'were here! Wait, do you know anyone around here to help?' Simon was standing at the entrance , "I don't, I haven't even heard of this place." Simon took a moment to stretch. Flint looked around, slightly intimidated by the town itself, 'Why don't, you lead..' Simon was intimidated a little too, "Alright." He approached the entrance cautiously and walked in. Flint glided over behind Simon, summoning a hand over his throat, 'Let's find somewhere to go..' Simon had looked around, there was a restaurant, a hospital, an inn, a store and a couple of houses, he pointed at the Hospital, "We could go there." 'sure, just please tell me this isn't a regular town..' Flint chuckled lightly and moved closer to Simon. Simon looked at Flint as they walked to the hospital, "I'm not sure it is." He hadn't seen a seen a single person ever since they walked in. Flint let out a sigh of relief and moved slightly away from Simon, 'I'm still nervous though..' Simon had a thought that the town had been abandoned, he ignored it though he then opened the hospital door and walked in. Flint looked around and moved over to the front desk, looking around questioningly, 'What's going on..' Simon looked at a bookshelf and looked around, "I honestly have no clue." 'well, this isn't much help..' Flint frowned and started to glide out of the hospital. Simon followed Flint out of the door, "Well, maybe we could go somewhere else." Flint nodded and moved back around Simon's neck, 'If you need me I'll be sleeping...' Simon decided to walk over to the inn, there was a woman at the front desk wearing a mask, he got a key, went to his room then went to sleep with Flint around his neck. By the time Simon woke up, Flint had summoned several hands that made odd signs on Simon's chest. He quivered in his sleep as the signs grew faster, clinging on tighter to Simon. Simon woke up but decided not to move because he didn't want to interrupt Flint with his signs. Flint whimpered and suddenly made the hands disappear as he woke up, 'Simon..?' "Hey Flint." Simon said, he then got back up off of the bed, he then looked behind himself to see that part of the bed was frozen solid. Flint yawned and looked over to the bed, 'What did you do...?' Simon looked at the bed in confusion, "I honestly don't know, anyways, we should check if the hospital is open." Flint nodded slowly and went back to sleep around Simon's shoulders.