The helicopter hummed as it followed the charted path over the vast expanse of dark ocean, the sound a little more muted than before as my feet felt the vibrations pulsing across the floor. The nagas had all balled up together again, sharing the remaining warmth that the heater had given off before it needed to be turned off.
I sat quietly in one of the seats attached to the helicopter frame, leaning forward and cupping my chin in my left hand as the moonlight poured through the small windows, the light interrupted as the rotor whirled through the air. The sounds the nagas were making told me that they were all asleep, Todo knocked out from the impromptu surgery while the others were probably still exhausted. It made me wonder if they had really slept while they were in their enclosures.
Stacy had fallen asleep in a safety rig strapped to the frame for stability so she wouldn't fall onto the floor if there was turbulence. I felt tired, too, but my mind was too busy trying to figure out what I would need to do on the island in order to survive.
It was definitely large enough to support a small tribe, with various sources of freshwater and plants that could produce nourishment when farmed correctly. The only issue was that I'd have to make every tool I needed by hand, and I wasn't exactly the crafty type.
A hand on my knee drew my attention to the outstretched arm of a naga, his coloration hidden by the shadows in the cargo bay. I removed the hand under my chin and placed it on top of his, giving a soft smile.
"Can't sleep?"
"...you should be asking yourself that," The voice was unmistakable, the low tone of Ichi's voice easy enough to hear despite the rotor hum above us, "You heard what they said, so why are you still awake?"
I slid down from the seat and moved closer to him, knowing that he couldn't come to me without shifting his weight around. His hand lifted from my knee as I sat cross-legged in front of him, "My mind can't seem to settle down, so I've just been thinking about things that I'd need to do on the island."
"You probably wouldn't need to do much...Jyushi seems happy enough to do everything for you."
"I know, but I can't eat the same things you all can," I watched as the moonlight waved over Ichi's face, the helicopter turning in its trajectory. He still seemed tired, but all of his attention was on me.
"The raw meat?"
"Mostly that, but I was also thinking of starting a small veggie or fruit farm for something I'd need," I let him reach out and touch my face, his fingers gently travelling from my forehead to my right cheek as his thumb pushed aside the eyepatch, "...it still looks bad, doesn't it...?"
"You shouldn't have gotten it in the first place," Ichi removed the eyepatch completely, his thumb ghosting over my right eyelid before pulling it open, "Will it...fully heal?"
"I'm not sure if it'll repair itself without surgery," The words left my lips in a whisper, sadness filling my voice as the tone was mimicked by the look on Ichi's face, "I just need to keep it covered for a few more days, but even after that I'll still be sensitive to light and glare."
"I'm sorry that I didn't act fast enough to save you," Ichi lowered his head towards mine, the eyepatch still in his hand as our foreheads touched, "I did the only thing I could, and I still don't think it was enough. If I was strong like Jyushi or had venom like the older three, then I could've been more helpful."
"You were more than helpful, Ichi," I leaned into him, "You were my hero that night."
"...I wasn't a hero..." Ichi started to pull away before I pressed my hands against his cheeks, holding his head in place.
"Of course you were. If you hadn't gotten help, then I probably would've been dead."
"But..." He gently lay a hand over his faded bite mark on my forearm.
"I've never blamed you for this," I felt his fingers search for the little dented scars in the skin, my arm permanently carrying his bite.
"I want to apologize...but I don't know what the right words are, and anything that I do say would just feel meaningless because I know I would just keep hurting you again," Ichi recoiled from me, a light hiss escaping his lips as his breathing increased.
"Then I'll keep forgiving you," I caught his hand before he fully retracted it away from me, quickly intertwining our fingers so he couldn't pull away. The gesture caught him off-guard, staring at our hands like it was a creature he'd never seen before, "Ichi...look at me."
His dark eyes slowly met my own.
"I care about you, much more than I can ever really say," I tugged his hand past my head, bringing our faces close, "So...let me show you again."
Ichi didn't resist the kiss, stiffly receiving it from me before his mind seemed to put the pieces together, pressing his lips back against mine. I let him hold the kiss for as long as he wanted, pulling away without resistance as I released his hand. Ichi covered his lips with his free hand, his eyes wide before slightly closing as he lowered his guarded hand.
"Can we do that...one more time?"
----
The morning sunlight started to stream in from the windows, streaking across my eyes as the helicopter made another turn. I flinched as my right eye screamed in agony from the brief flash of light over my eyelids, instantly covering it with a hand and wondering what happened to the eyepatch. My answer was easily found as I looked over to see Ichi curled up around me, the eyepatch held in his hand as he slept.
Gently taking it back and slipping it on, I carefully climbed off the top of the naga pile without disturbing any of them and sliding back into the folding seat I was in before.
"Good morning," I heard Stacy call out from her seat, "You've all been out for a long time."
"What's 'a long time' in this context?" I rubbed the heel of my palm over my left eye, stifling a yawn.
"We're a few hours away from the island."
I stilled, shocked awake by the chipper attitude of the vet despite having missed nearly two whole days because I was sleeping.
"Ah, geez...I'm sorry to not be awake the whole time," I groaned as I looked over to the nagas still sleeping.
"No worries. I had my own forms of entertainment," She lifted up a large book that was resting open on her lap, "We had figured you'd be out for the entire flight, considering what you've all gone through."
"You don't know half of it..." I thought back to the 'meetings' between Calmine and I, satisfied that I wouldn't have to answer to that man anymore, "Captivity can really be draining."
"Well, captivity is far behind you all now."
"That's where I hope it'll stay for them," I looked over at the sleeping nagas.
"What about you?" Stacy leaned forward, catching my eye and shifting my focus back to her.
"What about me?"
"Why not come back to the States with us?" She looked towards the nagas, "I know that you're the one that saved them, but...I don't like the thought of leaving you alone on the island."
I frowned a little, hearing one of the naga's breathing change mid-breath, "The thought of being the only human on their island does scare me, but I'm not worried about it since I'll be watched over by six pairs of eyes. I was thinking of raiding the laboratory that I used to be stationed at on the island for supplies that I'd need...if it's still there."
"Are you sure...?" Stacy's tone dropped a little.
"I gave it a bit of thought," I closed my eyes briefly and leaned back against the inner hull of the helicopter, "I would be a criminal if I went back to the States, and I don't have enough funds to bring Calmine to court over his gross mistreatment of animals. I think I'd be better off with them."
"If that's what you've decided, then I'll let Jeff know," She sighed a little before a smile spread across her lips.
"Why?" I raised an eyebrow at her sudden turn in expression.
"He had said that if you had a change of heart about abandoning America, he'd have a position open for you at his company since biologists of your skill and passion are hard to come by," Stacy lay a finger over a page before closing the book over it, shifting her gaze to me, "It would pay well, and you'd be free to live life under a different name."
"Jeff had a whole 'nother identity if I wanted to come back to America?" I scoffed a little.
"The money that came in from the GoFundMe page was a lot more than he expected, so he set a portion aside as a 'plan b' to cover attorney fees and legal paperwork for changing your identity."
"No way..." A laugh slipped through my lips as disbelief covered my face, "What was the page advertising?"
"A large shipment of rare creatures needed to be rescued from an animal abuser that acquired them illegally."
"And people supported the rescue effort?"
"Of course," Stacy shrugged a little, "One of the people that pledged a lot of money had found an article written about you and the nagas online and linked it on the page. A majority of the people sending money after that were fully in your corner to get the nagas home after hearing about how they were plucked from their island."
"I wonder if that's what made Calmine bump up his touring schedule..." I leaned forward and rested my chin on my hand, "We were supposed to stay in San Diego for six months before travelling to somewhere in the Midwest. Instead, he pushed it forward a month or two before completely changing it and offering the nagas up to a few private collectors."
"It's possible, but there wasn't anything that he could really do about it if he did find out."
"Well, he tried to do something about it."
We laughed for a little bit before another turn changed the scenery outside the little round windows of the helicopter.
The water had lightened from a dark blue to a color that rivaled the teal-blue of Kara's scales, white-capped waves cresting up before falling back into the ocean as the teal-blue water gave way to partially sandy shores. I straightened up in my seat as the island came into view near the bottom of the window, the helicopter adjusting its approach vector.
The island looked just like it had when I landed on it, showing off its different biomes to those that looked at it. A thick lush jungle covered a majority of the inland while giving way to rocky shores and sandy beaches along its shoreline, a large mountain range rising out of the jungle and dragging the trees up with its slopes before giving way to several exposed mountaintops. The mountain range slopes rolled into hills near its southern edge while flattening out completely on its north side, spreading out into more exposed land that seemed to resemble plains spotted with tree foliage.
"Quick," I motioned frantically to Stacy, "Do you have a camera or something?"
"Yeah, here," She struggled to bring out her phone, handing it to me when it was unlocked. I opened up the camera function and started to take aerial pictures of the island, getting what shots I could before it disappeared as the helicopter changed course.
"...are you going to show them?"
"Yeah," I handed her back the phone, "It looks untouched from here, and they've never seen it from the sky before. I want to show them how beautiful their home is."
Stacy smiled as she scrolled through the pictures, "I'll be sure to delete them after we take off."
A few moments passed in relative silence as I watched the ocean beneath us start to shift from that dark blue color into the teal-blue, signalling that we were closing in.
"Would...it still be okay if I took a look at..." Stacy paused as she thought of a name, "...Ichi? Since you were sleeping for most of the flight, I want to make sure that I can take a look at his wound before the helicopter leaves."
"Sure, I'll ask him about it," I briefly tore my eye away from the vast green canopy that spread out underneath the helicopter, "Do you know how long it'll take?"
"It shouldn't be that long if I'm just looking at it. If it needs immediate attention, then I'll let you know," She offered a smile before reaching over her shoulder to hold a welded handle when the helicopter slowed down, the familiar sensation of falling settling in my stomach as I hurried to sit down. A few moments later, there was a soft drop before I heard the engines start to wind down as Grant walked through the doorway leading to the personnel area.
"Ladies and gentlesnakes, it's my pleasure to let you know that we've landed safely," He looked towards Stacy and myself, his voice stirring the nagas from their sleep, "It'll take a few minutes to go through the landing checklist before you're able to disembark, but that'll go by much faster than the flight itself."
"Grant, was there any sign of people being here recently?" I stood up as he turned to duck back through the doorway, looking at me from over his shoulder, "Like...could you tell this landing zone had been used recently?"
"We saw that some of the closer trees had been pushed back a little from heli rotors, but we're not sure if that was recent damage or from months ago. It was a really tight squeeze for us, so if the previous helicopter that came here was a Mi26, then she would've left scars," Grant gave me a reassuring smile, "If a Mi26 was the last one here, then we're the first visitors in a while."
"Thanks, Grant," I returned the smile before he gave a small wave, disappearing from view. Stacy's small groan as she stood up drew my attention back to her.
"Well...I can see that you're awake, Ichi."
I noticed the lavender corn naga flinch a little at his name, looking over at her slowly before noticing me also staring at him.
"...you wanted to see my wound...?"
"If you'll allow me," Stacy added, not moving anywhere until he gave her an answer. Ichi looked at the mess of coils around and over his own tail, pulling free slowly before rubbing the back of his neck.
"...fine."
"Great," She nodded before grabbing the stethoscope and a small pair of metal tweezers, moving around the waking pile of nagas and kneeling next to Ichi. I cautiously walked over, my eyes on the healing stab wound as Stacy went through the check-up procedure she had done with Oso. After looking satisfied with the preliminary check, she focused on the wound and asked for permission to touch it. Ichi glanced at me briefly for reassurance before agreeing, watching her movements carefully as Stacy gently lay her fingers above and below the wound. Spreading her fingers apart, she tugged the skin open before letting go and repeating the process for either side.
"Yeah, this looks good," She looked up at Ichi, "Well, it doesn't look good, but the wound is definitely healing. Just don't go near sand or scratch at it as it heals, and it should be almost as good as new before long."
"Will his shedding affect it at all?"
"It'll probably itch like crazy while the top layer of keratin on the scales loosens, but the wound is mostly on his skin. That will be what's going to heal it," Stacy pointed out the line between scales and skin on Ichi's waist, pulling up the skin above the wound to show that a majority of the wound rested right above the line. There were two smaller scales that were scratched up, but those would heal with the shed he was about to have.
Grant stepped out from the personnel area with a large grin on his face as he maneuvered around the nagas, reaching out to depress a button on the ramp control panel, "Checklist is all green. Welcome home."