Skylanders: Second Leaf

Chapter 28 ~ Lovestruck

Shoria awoke in an infirmary room. Her limbs and eyelids felt weak and as thick as led. She couldn't feel her fingers and toes. Her vision was swimming with colors and shadows as her skull pounded like Fiesta had drove over it in his Crypt Crusher. The infirmary room was basically all shades of light grey and ivory. Cotton cots with steel frames lined the walls. Curtains divided them from view of each other. Two steel cabinets rested on either side of the door at the other end of the long, rectangular room. The last thing Shoria could remember was Kaos and Kyrel going at each other's throats.

"Wha... where am I? What happened?" Shoria muttered.

She looked around the infirmary wing as her vision began to clear finally. Her head still pounded with agonizing throbbing, but it was starting to get easier to function. The infirmary wing was void of people, accept for a single purple dragon lying in one of the far cots. Asleep. Spread out underneath the thin, cotton sheets. A look of slight pain spread across his snout. Every other cotton white bed was empty. Finally, Shoria noticed Kyrel sitting on the end of the cot she was laying on.

"Hm? Oh, you're awake. How do you feel?" Kyrel asked, smiling warmly at her.

"Umm, weak... and tired... what happened to me?"

"Well, uh..." Kyrel paused. "I'll let Kaos explain that later."

Kaos stood outside in the thickly snow lined and frost covered grounds. The wind and snow raging on around him to no end. With every passing second, it actually seemed to be getting stronger. A dark blue scarf was wrapped around his neck, pulled up over his mouth and nose, and hood yanked up over his head. The shadows it cast hiding his eyes from view. It was a dark, blizzarding evening, and the cold seemed to freeze the blood in Kaos' veins, but he just kept on walking through the deep, deep snow. The snow that covered the grounds came up past Kaos' ankles and almost half way up his leg, but he didn't seem to even care. It had been almost four days since Shoria had collapsed, but he still felt that odd feeling deep inside. That feeling had been eating away at him ever since. He had genuinely wanted to help Shoria. Not only because it would improve his rates of success on this 'mission' of his... but because she had been the only one to truly believe he was trying to be good. Have a new start. He felt... happy when Shoria was around. He didn't have to fake a smile or force a laugh like he did around the others. When she was near, he could feel real joy. Real happiness. This thought made Kaos' head hurt. He hadn't felt like that since... maybe... just maybe... no. Kaos shook his head. He wasn't going to let that thought cross his mind. It was an impossible idea.

Shoria sat up with a start, her eyes wide. "Where is he?!?"

"Who? Kaos?" Kyrel asked. "Oh, he's just outside. Probably trying to thaw his frozen-solid, lack of a heart or something like that, I'm thinking."

Kyrel was still mad at Kaos. Seething mad. The fact that she believed Kaos more than she did himself, that she was one to stick by Kaos wherever he went. To protect and guide him. It made Kyrel feel like Kaos was ripping Shoria away from him piece by piece. He did care for her safety, he did care whether she was hurt or not, but all she seemed to care about nowadays was that Kaos was safe. And Kyrel hated it. Loathed it. Quick as a dash, Shoria sprang up off of the cot and onto the ground. She didn't feel weak anymore. Shoria grabbed her winter coat; a cherry colored, thick coat with big black buttons running down the front and fluffy, faux fur lining the cuffs of the sleeves, the collar and hood of the jacket; which was lying by the bed. She pulled it on over her other clothes and ran out of the room, doing it up as she did so. Kyrel growled, not moving from his perch on the edge of Shoria's cot. He glared at the doorframe, hating Kaos with every ounce of his existence.

Kaos slid to the ground, his back pressed up against the barren, rough trunk of a tree that lined the border between the grounds and the forest. His shoulders slumped and head pressed into his knees. He needed to Know that Shoria was okay. He needed to know that she was safe, but Kyrel had been spending almost every second of his waking moments with her... how could Kaos manage to get in there when that fail of a dark whisp was stalking her like a guard dog. He at least needed to hear from one of the doctors before he did ANYTHING else. He would contact Glumshanks tonight for a brief recap of how it was going on his end... but until then... Kaos would wait. And worry. And fret. Kaos closed his eyes and sighed, pulling his knees closer to his chest. Shoria rounded the corner of the infirmary building and noticed a small, shadowy shape curled up at the foot of a large tree. Shoria trudged through the snow towards it, hoping it was the person she had been looking for. The icy wind and the thick snowflakes clinging to her jacket and anywhere else they could latch on, freezing her to the bone, as she made her way towards the figure.