Wings of Fire as Humans (in High School): Here We Go Again!

Clay

Sunny had left, and Glory turned to Starflight, Tsunami, Starflight, and Clay.

"So, what's this 'full story'?" Tsunami asked.

"I'd like to know." Clay said. "I don't like you guys keeping secrets from me."

"Neither do I." Starflight agreed. "We're friends, and we don't keep secrets from each other."

"I'm sorry, I really am." Glory said. "It's just hard for me to talk about." She sat down and sighed. "After we got back from the... incident, I didn't do much. I stayed here, and eventually Thorn made me go to Deathbringer's house so that I could go through his stuff and keep what I wanted. Quickstrike, Deathbringer's mom, thought it was fair that I was allowed to keep some of his things, you know, since I'm his girlfriend. Anyway, he wrote me a letter. He told me that he and Meerkat had made a plan, and it was the only way that they could think of to stop Darkstalker once and for all. And that's why Meerkat went in league with Darkstalker. And Deathbringer told me that he was going to die, and he said some other things, but the main point was that Meerkat didn't want to work with Darkstalker. He did it to keep everyone safe, and he and Deathbringer were the only ones that knew." She paused, and looked up at Clay. "I was going to tell you, but I just wasn't ready. I didn't want to talk about it. But now that Deathbringer is back, you guys deserve to know."

Clay smiled. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been mad at you, I just don't like it when people keep secrets from me. I just want to do what's best for you, and I want to help you."

Tsunami nodded. "We're all here for you. Whenever you need us, we can help."

"That's how it's always been." Starflight added.

"Thanks." Glory said.

Deathbringer walked up to them. "I didn't want it to be this way." He said. "But I'm alive, and Darkstalker is gone. I wish I could have told you, both then the plan may not have worked."

Clay nodded. "I understand."

"It was a smart plan." Starflight said. "I couldn't even think of that."

Deathbringer winked. "Sometimes you need to not overthink things."

"I don't overthink—" Starflight protested.

"Yeah, you kind of do." Tsunami said. "Sorry, Starflight, but you do."

"Hate to say it, but she's right." Glory said. "But it's fine. We still like you."

Clay grinned. He was glad that none of them were sad anymore. Things were good again, and Clay couldn't have been happier.

Sunny walked into the room. "Hey."

"Hey, Sunny." Clay said. "How'd it go?" He knew that things were awkward between the two, and he didn't like seeing Sunny upset. She was always the optimistic one, and if she was upset, then the mood on all of them was more pessimistic.

"It went fine." Sunny said. "Meerkat's really happy that you're alive. It broke him that he couldn't tell anyone, and that the only way for everything to work was for Deqthbrigner to sacrifice himself. He blames himself a lot. But he's coming over tomorrow while we're all here, and he doesn't know if he'll go to school tomorrow."

"If he doesn't go to school, he can spend the day here." Clay said. "He's a hero."

"Yeah, I know." Sunny said. "He just... he doesn't want things to be weirder than they already are. He blames himself for everything, and he thinks that you guys hate him, and he doesn't want to have you guys not want him here."

"He doesn't want to be a burden." Starflight said.

Sunny nodded. "He's been through a lot, and this has just been a breaking point for him."

"He's welcome here." Glory said. "And I think I speak for all of us."