FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 9

"Last door on the right"

His eyes followed the moving claw of the cheetah, a small smile curled his lips as he looked down the corridor.

"Thank you for your help"

The feline folded her arms behind her back and bowed gently, the grin on her face was so huge that it warmed Flare's heart. How simple gestures of good give people so much satisfaction will never stop surprising him.

"It was my pleasure. Remember that there is no rush, stay as long as you want"

His snout lightened up even stronger than usual, if not for all this fire surrounding him already someone could say that he is about to self-ignite.

"Thank you!" he blurt out overjoyed

The young cheetah bowed once more as she began to walk away.

"I just hope that your visit will be as satisfactory for you as bringing you here was for me" she waved with the back of her hand

The smile on his snout grew wider, it felt like his mouth cracked at its corners, just to be able to fit all this display of utter happiness on his draconic maw.

He jumped his way through the corridor, literally, as if his legs had springs instead of bones. This was the second time this day that patience showed how generous it can be if you just allow it to do its silent and most of the time hard to bare work.

Holding back from releasing all that burning hate towards the purple dragon showed that even they can be tolerable. Now this, countless minutes or even hours spent sitting on his ass when everyone told you to go away proved to be effective.

Patience is awesome.

He stopped in front of the door and without thinking opened them like he would be walking into his own room.

The natural reddish light he emanated filled the interior.

"Perfect" a feminine, disgruntled voice reached him even before he truly crossed the doorstep

"The circus' main clown has arrived. Vengeful sluts"

"Hey Irissssssssss-" Flare's voice died down with a whizz, in perfect accordance with his widening eyes

The bed she was on was filled was a bloody mess. It reminded him of the bloodbaths he had to endure.

She didn't seem to care, she was working on that old medallion of hers like everything would be just fine.

It felt like time itself stopped flowing with the silence that befallen on the room.

"You're bleeding!" he screamed finally, every part of his burning body spit out flames as if startled by his shout

Iris stopped what she was doing.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" his muscles tensed "It's all over the bed!"

Her cold gaze landed on the blood covered sheets, diamond pupils examining them in prolonged slides through their whole length.

"This is bad" she muttered

Flare dashed into the room worriedly "Bad?" he gulped "How bad is it?"

Her whole body swayed, as if she was about to lose consciousness.

"You need to get help"

"Help?" his yellow eyes darted behind his shoulder, aiming at the spread wide open door "I can't leave y-"

"You must find a healer"

"Where?" he whined pitifully

She looked up at him, for a moment in her drowsy gaze a spark of complete contempt flared up, in that brief second he noticed the same lively in her cold and hateful way Iris he got used to see. Lose of blood didn't affect her in the slightest.

"This is a hospital" she mumbled, her cute accent, for his great displeasure, lost somewhere in that whisper "Healers are aplenty here"

"Right!" Flare exclaimed, jumping back in sudden enlightenment "I'll bring help!"

Iris nodded, her chin practically glued itself to her chest.

"Go"

He dashed towards the door, but stopped when he was about to cross the doorstep. His hectic glance landed back on her.

"Are you sure you're-"

"You must get the healers" she looked around the bloodied sheets "As soon as possible" she mumbled devastated

His heart skipped a beat, with flames bursting into the air from his hocks he sprinted into the corridor.

"Is anybody here?" he shouted, his panicked voice rumbling within the halls

"As soon as possible" he heard Iris' voice echoing in his skull

"Hello?" he shouted again, his run slowing down to a walk

"As soon as possible"

"She needs help" his voice lost the loud tone, getting weaker and weaker with each spoken letter

"As soon as possible"

"My frie-" he stopped moving, voice coming as a whisper

"As soon as possible"

He looked behind his shoulder, down the stretched corridor with many doors dotting both sides of its walls, his eyes especially focused on the last ones on the right.

He frowned and turned around.

"She manipulated you Flare" Cynder's voice resounded in his head

He retraced his steps, all the time thinking about the blood on Iris' bed. It was definitely real, this smell he will never confuse with anything. Yet there was something that just bugged him the wrong way. As his claws clicked quietly down the hall one sentence kept swirling inside his head.

It's a game for her.

He stopped right next to the door, instead of walking right through he simply craned his neck forward, taking a peek into the room.

She was sitting right in the same spot, entirely concentrated on breathing delicate icy streams of magical air at the piece of jewelry in her paws. The breath was weak but steady, her posture didn't betray any sign of tiredness that she showed earlier.

She played me again!

Flare growled, wings spat out angry flames as he stepped into the room.

"Does manipulating me makes you happy about your sad, miserable life?!"

Iris gasped, the magical breath she was releasing died momentarily, the freshly created ice block, still not fully formed cracked like an egg shell. The part of the chain she tried to put together dropped back onto the bed.

She jerked her head in the direction of the growl, eyes widened in surprise. The burning drake she thought got rid off for a while returned way too quick for her liking.

She blinked the shock away.

"Your wit fuse is unusually long today Dynamite"

"What?"

"If only by an inch"

He stared at her for a while, room getting hotter by the second, steadily, as if somebody would be controlling the temperature, preventing it from getting too high.

"Stop playing your games with me! I was really worried about you and you treat me like garbage!"

"You don't deserve any better"

"Yeah? You think you're better? Nobody likes you Iris! So if I'm garbage than what are you?"

Her diamond eyes narrowed themselves on him.

"Don't you dare comparing yourself to me trash" she hissed

"See? This is what I'm talking about! You're so full of hate that you don't even want to tell me, the only guy in this room or maybe even in the whole world that isn't your family who cares what's the matter with all this blood!"

She snarled, elemental energy pushed into her veins, ready to be unleashed, but the moment she opened her mouth she started to cough and all that magic disappeared.

She wiped her mouth with an irritated growl.

"If you would shut up then you would know"

"Just know what exactly?" he snapped

Her eyes shimmered differently, they were hurt and ashamed. It was impossible to tell if she was faking it or not.

"Can you really not tell? I'm in heat"

Flare gasped, her revelation caught him completely by surprise. Momentarily his heart started to beat faster and a flush crept on his cheeks.

"I-I-I-In h-h-h-heat?"

She nodded embarrassed.

"You know what that does to a girl?"

He rubbed the back of his head, eying the blood on the bed.

"I-I'm familiar w-with the b-b-basics"

"It's not enough to understand and I'm not going to lower myself to your level and start explaining it. That is why you must get out of my room. Right now"

Flare impulsively retreated, however the moment one of his back legs touched the ground a suspicious frown appeared on his snout.

"Wait a moment. How can I know that you are not trying to trick me again?"

"I wouldn't. You're way too clever for that"

He observed her very carefully, yesterday he might have believed in her words, but his perspective changed completely when Cynder revealed what the dragoness in front of him did. He didn't trust Iris, she was trying to fool him again, even the compliment didn't change his mind.

"You know what? I think you want to make a fool out of me"

She indifferently turned around, slowly turning the broken medallion in her claws.

"I have no intention of digging a grave when there is already a pyre in flames"

His head immediately tilted to the side, a dumbfounded frown showed itself on his snout, gears in his head automatically started to turn, processing the recently voiced words. It was not a smooth work, the gears started to grind against each other, louder and louder black smoke rose up from the machinery, pieces of which started to break with ringing, snapping sound of metal.

And then there was an explosion, the whole machine laid in ruins.

Flare shook his head fiercely.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, but I know for certain that female heat doesn't work that way. I've spent some time around females to know that they don't bleed like you do. So either you are making this up, or you have a hole the size of a crater down there. Without me actually seeing anything I can't really be the judge"

The medallion slipped from her claws, paws froze in midair, her head remained hanging in one place for several seconds. Then her head turned, neck cracked as if it was an ancient tree, her white, piercing eyes shinning brighter than ever before.

She would freeze the whole world with that look, if only it would be possible.

"What did you just say?" she pronounced each word slowly, threatening tone radiating from her sentence for anyone willing and able to listen

Flare was neither.

"I've said that without actually checking what is going on you might want to try to sell me whatever stories you come up with" he replied casually, oblivious to the aggression in her voice

"Did you just ask if you can look under my tail?"

"I did-" his eyes widened momentarily when the sound of her question and the ringing echo of his unfinished response resounded in his head. As if knowing, his voice disappeared back into the throat, running from the situation his clueless and inconsiderate nature created.

A fierce blush crept on his cheek, throwing his head back as if it was burned.

"N-n -no! I-I-I mean t-t-that wit-t-t-thout evidence it's h-h-hard to b-b-believe y-y-you"

"You are just like all the rest of them" she responded coldly

He shook his head "N-n-n-no ! I didn't m-m-mean it l-l-like that!"

"Caught in the act and you still go into denial. Typical"

He shook his head one more time "A-a-a-again, that is n-n-not what I-I-I meant!"

"Want to know why I bled so much?

Flare nodded with a nervous gulp.

"I grew a second cunt'

"Whhhhhat?"

"It's right in front of me"

He scratched the back of his head, with difficulties fighting back the urge to turn around and look for whoever or whatever she is referring to.

"It's really getting on my nerves. You would also want something that makes you sick go away, wouldn't you?"

"I-I guess"

She rearranged herself on the bed, whole body turned confidently in his direction, eyes narrowed on his features.

"Get the fuck out of my room cunt"

His head impulsively jerked back, as if her toxic voice was literally a stinking cloud. In the fragments of books Volteer read to him, even in the parts he pitifully managed to stick together himself, every beautiful heroine never ruined her image, only occasionally showing up flaws that didn't suit her attitude and posture.

No matter what many may think, Iris is also one of such heroines, all that bile didn't suit her. The only thing that made her different from the book heroines is that she willingly tainted herself. There aren't many it seems who can stand her repulsive oddity.

Whoever or whatever she was referring to right now, with that last sentence of hers would most likely feel the same way.

He wasn't one of them.

People look at him differently too.

It takes a freak to know a freak.

His train of thought was interrupted by this uncomfortable itching at the back of his skull, her piercing eyes, aimed on him like that felt like the stone turning gaze of a medusa. He couldn't help himself but to look straight into those cold diamond orbs. His body didn't turn to stone, yet the longer he stared into her eyes the peculiar grinding sound of massive blocks crumbling filled his head.

The noise was coming from the back of his mind, imaginary stone wall was shaking and cracking, letting rays of clarity pierce through. Light of which eventually filled his mind with one rebounding thought.

She is talking about me.

"You want me to leave?" Flare mumbled devastated, voice filled with such suffering that no good heart could pass it indifferently

Iris' gaze remained unchanged.

"Dynamite, you're sparkling bright today. With such quick thinking you can easily race against a retard taking a shit"

He was completely uninterested in what she just said.

"You really want me to leave?"

"Was I too subtle?" she cleared her throat "GET. OUT. NOW. I DON'T HAVE PATIENCE FOR IMBECILES"

The devastated expression on his snout deepened.

She didn't care.

"There. Clear enough?"

He turned around and made a step forward, the moment his recently risen leg touched the floor he stopped. Every strand of his wounded pride urged him to leave. To allow the bitter dragoness drown in her own bile.

He might have done exactly what his pride wanted.

If not for a single thought.

He wasn't one of them.

"No" Flare said

One of Iris' brows raised in reaction to his statement.

"What?"

He turned around, sitting confidently on the ground.

"I've said no"

"Don't test me Dynamite" she snarled

"I think you got to used to playing people as you see fit. You speak and act as nothing has any consequences, as people around you were nothing but sacks of meat. They are not"

"Shut your trap or you're going to regret it moron"

"See?!" Flare blurt out, pointing a claw at her "This is what I'm talking about! You insult me even if I'm here to offer you support"

Streaks of ice appeared underneath her paws, making the sheets below moist.

"I don't need you or your stomach turning lessons of empathy" she pointed at the door "Get. Out"

He shook his head twice, sharply from side to side.

"Not gonna happen"

Iris' mouth opened with a growl, her weak muscles flexed and wavered, obviously at the brink of collapsing. The temperature in the room dropped, a trail of ice appeared within her gaping maw.

And then she started to cough fiercely, collapsing on the bed.

Flare remained in place, only squinting his eyes when the cold waft of magical air combed his fiery mane.

"Iris please, behave, just this once and you won't have to suffer"

"Shut up!" she roared, as she pulled herself on the sheets, white eyes shimmering with fury

"I don't want you here! Why do you torment me?"

"You torment yourself, fighting when you don't need to. Friends help, that's what they do"

"I don't have friends!" Iris snapped "Especially I'm not friends with an imbecile like you"

Flare sighed "Look, we already decided that I'm staying, you might as well stop insulting me every time you speak. It doesn't work"

"We haven't decided anything! You barged into my room uninvited and without asking pollute the air with your stench. Get in that stupid head of yours finally that I don't want you here!"

"I've been in a very similar situation that you are now currently, I hated the whole world also, to regain some touch with it and not to go mad and destructive I remembered the words of my..." he swallowed "...friend. It helped me to pull through some really tough time"

His eyes sparkled hopefully "You can contain all that wrath. You're too pretty to let it take over"

Her paws clenched the sheets, tips of sharp claws tore through the material.

"Stop calling me pretty" she growled "If you really want my tail so bad you horny fool then come and take it. Know that I will first bite your dick off before ripping your throat out"

"For what I would need your tail for?" he asked confused "I have my own" and as if trying to prove his point Flare swung it in front of his paws, making it clearly visible for anyone interested.

Nobody was.

She watched him with clear disgust in her eyes.

"Now try to think why you don't deserve my attention"

Flare frowned dumbfounded.

"Troubles with the thinking part? As expected. Get lost. I won't repeat myself again"

He snorted "Insulting and mocking me will get you nowhere. I'm way to used to that"

She stared at him what felt like an eternity before finally turning around, returning to her aborted work.

Time flew by in wordless atmosphere.

"You're going to ignore me now?" he asked

Iris didn't respond.

Flare sighed "We both know that it's not going to work, from the two of us I'm the more patient one. Bigger chances are for you to eventually snap than me leave. Besides you like the sound of your voice, which is cool because I like it too"

Her diamond orbs shifted to the corner of her eyeballs where they flickered with a cold, fierce light and there seemed to be a icy mist wafting lazily from the corners of her eyes.

"Being defenseless sucks doesn't it?"

"What the hell do you want?" she hissed at him

He shrugged "Nothing. I came here to help you. No wait!" he blurt out, throwing his claw in the air "There is something I want"

Her tail curled around her thigh.

"Surprise, surprise" she growled

"I want you to leave Cynder alone. I want you to stop hurting her"

Whatever signs of fury that earlier occupied her features vanished completely, tail relaxed and returned to its original position.

"Did Tat tell on me?"

One of his brows risen up in confusion.

"Who's Tat?"

"No, she wouldn't simply cry on your shoulder. You must have whined to her like you are whining right now to me"

Flare's eyes widened in sudden realization.

"You're talking about Cynder! Why do you come up with those strange names?"

"She wanted to get rid of you so she sent you to pester me"

"Hey!" Flare protested "She didn't send me away!"

Iris tapped her claw on the sheets "Is that so? Did she try to hide what happened? Or perhaps spat my name out with no hesitation?"

"She...didn't spat out anything. She-"

"The latter then" she snorted disdainfully, cutting him off. She once more picked up the medallion in her claws "You see Dynamite? Nobody wants you around"

"That's not true!" he snarled, pushing himself up on all fours fiercely, muscles tensed and burning body spitting out angry flames

"She would never do anything like that! We're friends!"

Iris rose the chain to her eyes, examining it calmly.

"Tat is pathetic, that's why she indulges in a conversation with you and all that pretended friendship so she won't feel so bad about herself"

"Yeah? And just how do you know what she feels?! You don't talk with people!"

"I did my homework" she narrowed her eyes on him mockingly "When we got stuck in the library. You were doing the dirty work and I was reading a book. You remember? Or it is impossible for you to strain your already scarce brain that much?"

Flare frowned, a quiet growl rumbled in his throat.

"I remember" he replied annoyed

Iris' eyes widened "Really? Prove it. Since the skill of reading is impossible to reach for someone of your limited intelligence I'll ask a question you ask when you want to get information from retarded people. Truth be told, you also fit in that category"

His claws scratched the floor below, leaving small hot cuts on the ground. He might have said that insults and mockery have no effect on him, it was the truth, the ugly names she called him didn't bother him in the slightest.

This however was a complete different insult. Her voice was so lofty, her accent, so interesting and pretty earlier, only added more to the already sickening layer. She was speaking like she knew everything, like he was nothing more than an ant. He was aware that he isn't the brightest dragon, but being treated like an...not ant. Being treated like nothing.

He isn't nothing.

"How did the book look like?" she continued in her unnerving tone

"It was thick, black, with engraved letters in the color of shadow" he replied in the same, cold, almost mechanical voice

"Would you look at that, you passed. You must be really proud of yourself, it's a common trait among you little, meaningless bugs. Achieving a goal that for you seem like scaling the peak of a highest mountain while your betters conquered thousand hills like that must feel really rewarding"

"I was right. You really like the sound of your voice"

"In a perfect world my voice would be the only one hearable, all fools would be silenced"

"Perfect worlds don't exist"

Iris looked him over, abhorrence wrinkling her nose.

"So it seems"

Flare narrowed his eyes on her, this time he perfectly understood the meaning behind her words, or simply became more sensitive to the specific aura of disdain surrounding her that he learnt when it sprouts tentacles that touch him.

"I've passed your stupid test"

"The book was about Tat, about the many things she has done and much more"

He shrugged "So what? Everyone has a past, sometimes you just have to do things you don't like"

"Doesn't matter. The fact is she despises herself because of what she did. Don't believe me, ask her, it's clear as day. She keeps you around as a toy, decoy, a clown so people will look at you and not at her. She keeps you around because you are pathetic and naïve, buy every word she says. She keeps you around so she can forget about her past, all she needs is to make you talk, it becomes clear how miserable and worthless you are. It makes her feel better"

He shook his head confidently "Cynder is not like that"

She swung her paw from left to right, as if drawing through the whole length of the room.

"And here you are when she is runnin' around with that purple dragon"

Purple dragon.

As soon as possible.

Another words were added to the pool, keys that he knew opened the door called Manipulation.

A keyhole to which showed him no one else but Cynder.

Flare pointed his claw at her.

"I know what you're doing!"

Iris frowned.

"You are incapable of understanding me"

"You're trying to mess with my head! Want me to run off after Cynder! Make me distrust her!"

She said nothing to these accusations, she only stared at him for an unaccountable amount of time, he didn't know what she was thinking about, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. If somebody would tell him to guess he would say that it wasn't anything pretty, if the flickering cold light in her eyes and the slight, nervous jerks of her tail were any clue.

"I trusted you once" he broke the silence, his voice back to its normal, soft self "It ended with Cynder landing in the hospital. I'm stupid but not without a brain, your words won't fool me twice"

"This mockery of a visit is your idea of a revenge isn't it? You want to punish me for what I did to your girlfriend?"

"No!" he whined, almost pleadingly "No, no, no and no!" he impulsively jumped towards her stopping at the edge of the bed, his move making her jerk back with a faint gasp, one paw bend and risen in the air

"Why for you everything is about anger and punishment? I came here to talk, nothing else, I simply came to talk Iris"

She stared at him with her mouth slightly opened, something changed within her eyes briefly, the diamond, brilliantly shinning orbs lost their scary layer, the glow now more visible than ever. The prism he noticed when he first saw her healed all its scars, letting her diamond eyes shine with all their pristine light.

He heard his jaw cracking open, if not for the bones he was certain that it would drop on the ground. Something built up from within his chest, went up his lungs until it eventually reached his mouth, leaving a numbing after effect behind.

It was a soft sigh.

Iris' bent paw moved and touched the spot where her neckline began. She blinked hectically when her paw touched the scales, her eyes quickly darting at the extended leg just to swiftly land on the ruined medallion on the bed moments later.

Paw returned on the sheets ferociously, a soft thud could be heard when it landed. The moment her eyes went back up everything was the same as before. When his gaze met with those fierce, kind of scary glare a dreadful thought crossed his mind.

It was all just a sweet illusion.

"I don't want to talk" she eventually replied, her voice carrying the usual, bone freezing chill with it

His opened mouth closed with a loud click of his teeth, head slightly tilted to the side as he observed her thoughtfully.

"You know what? I don't care what you want"

She growled, the air got colder once more.

"Could you repeat the last part?"

Flare rolled his eyes.

"Stop with the threats already, you're too weak to hurt me. I can do whatever I want and there's nothing you can do about it"

He didn't even properly exhale the gathered up air after his last sentence before Iris roared and sprang forward. Teeth and claw ready to strike.

He jumped back with a startled gasp, feeling and hearing the snapping teeth and the swinging claws as they missed his scales. However he still patted himself all over, looking for any injuries.

The bed creaked underneath the fiercely dropping draconic body landing on its edge. Iris grunted when her underbelly hit the thick, wooden frame below. Wings impulsively spread themselves open. She landed so unfortunately that her upper body bend over the edge making her front paws and tip of her nose touch the ground of the room while her tail, rump and lower side of her back remained on the bed.

She started to cough fiercely.

"Iris!" he blurt out in worry and sprang towards her

"Leave me!" she snarled at him when he approached, making him stop in his tracks. Her piercing eyes clearly showing that she means it

"I'll help you!" Flare pressed onwards

"LEAVE ME!" she cried out so loudly that he froze in literal fear, his tail slid in between his legs, every part of his burning body seemed to dim itself to barely a flicker

Coughing and groaning Iris fought to scramble back on top of the bed. She was progressing towards her goal, but she was wavering and sliding constantly that the backwards climb seemed to be a feat only achievable by an experienced hiker.

It was painful to look at.

She eventually achieved victory, her whole body found itself on the bed, chin resting on the wooden edge, chest heaving with muffled pants, eyes directed at the red legs ahead.

"I'm so sorry" Flare muttered sadly

"I don't need and want your pity"

He bent on his paws slightly, craning his neck so his worried eyes were looking directly at hers.

"Can I make you feel better somehow?"

She growled, presenting rows of sharp teeth.

"I don't want your help"

"Making people hate you is not the way Iris. People are not the same, believe me, I know. I finally learned it today"

"I don't remember asking for your opinion. Spare me the moral lectures. Nobody is going to teach me what I should do and what not, especially not someone like you who has troubles telling which hole in his body is used for shitting and which for talking"

He frowned, for a moment wanting to focus on the mentioned hole problem he supposedly has, but he quickly decided not to dwell on the matter. At this point, so far down the insult train, he doubted he could make any sense out of any confusing thing she says.

"That was not an opinion, but a friendly advice" he replied softly

"I didn't ask for either"

"Iris listen-"

"Shut up!" she blurt out, punching the wooden frame of the bed, the smacking sound echoing in the room serving as an argument to make her point across

"Do me a favor and cut your tongue out, I'm tired to listening to its wagging"

Flare impulsively touched his mouth "Cut my tongue out? I wouldn't be able to speak then!"

She rubbed her forehead.

"Idiot. Why do you even are still here?"

"We're friends"

"I told you already that we are not!" she roared at him, the bed receiving another blow

Flare winced.

"You should stop doing that, it has to hurt"

"We aren't friends you fool! You clung to me like bear to a honey! If you wanted me then you would already try to make a move"

He cocked his head.

"How could I want you? You're not an object, I can't make you mine"

"You don't understand absolutely anything! How is it possible that you're still alive?"

"Purple dragons usually said that I live only because I'm a real pain in the ass. Whatever that means" he replied indifferently

"Sounds about right. If my ass is not what you want then why did you clung to me?"

Flare looked down at his paw, confusion wrinkling his nose.

"I didn't cling to you, my paws are right over here" he waved one of his legs at her

"At besakne!" Iris howled at the ceiling, the almost begging tone in her voice and the sudden lack of accent made his head jerk back in surprise.

"Why?!" she blurt out in his direction, her voice returning back to the normal accented tone "Why you are here? W-H-Y?!"

He blinked away the shock.

"You're very interesting and I like you"

"You can't like me! I attacked you! And will do so again when you get close enough!"

Flare shrugged "Aggression won't chase me away"

She clenched her paws on the frame of the bed, claws dug into the wood, lifting curled splinters like a knife used to carve from wood.

"Tat doesn't interest me"

He frowned once more, at first not realizing completely what she meant by that, but the longer he spent staring at her in complete silence the more time his train of thought had time to catch up with the sudden change of topic. When it finally did, his eyes widened.

"That means you won't attack Cynder anymore?" he asked hopefully, each word ringing with a tone of joy

"I didn't say that"

Whatever signs of happiness were present on his snout vanished in a moment's notice.

"So you still want to hurt her?"

"I didn't say that either"

Another moment of silence, he once again started to stare at her, confused as much as one can be confused. This time however he didn't find out the exit from this maze of bewilderment.

"I don't understand. You will attack her or not?"

"I may and I may not. Depends if I'll want to"

"That's not an answer"

Iris shrugged.

"That's all I've got. I don't care whether you like it or not, you won't get any better from me"

Flare shook his head fiercely.

"This is not enough"

She growled "Know my generosity moron! I'll only add that she's not my target"

"Really? How can I know that you're not fooling me again?"

"I'm not. My priorities shifted, thanks to you. This should be proof enough for you, I don't acknowledge the assistance of others easily. Lowering myself to such things only to provoke someone is below my stature"

Flare smiled, his features brightened, he was almost glowing with pride.

"Seriously? I made you change your mind?"

She narrowed her cold gaze on him.

"You certainly expanded my possibilities"

"Woo!" he blurt out excited, completely ignoring the peculiar glare she was giving him, wings spitting out joyful sparks as he made a happy spin

He stopped suddenly when something caught his attention, an object on the floor next to the bed.

"Hey, what's that?"

Iris dropped her head onto the bed with a groan as she spotted him moving in the direction she didn't want him to go. In fact she didn't want him go anywhere besides towards the door.

"I did what you wanted" she whined into the sheets

"It's a medallion. Isn't it yours?"

Her head sprang up from the sheets forcefully that some bones snapped in her spine. She momentarily pushed herself up with a spin, pushing the sheets down onto the ground. She swiftly returned to the bloodied position she occupied earlier.

It was empty.

It wasn't here.

She started to hectically dig through every soft material, pushing pillows and every other part that made the bed soft onto the floor.

Nothing.

She must have kicked it off the bed when she sprang at the cretin.

Her eyes darted towards the fire dragon, completely ignoring his idiotic, dumbfounded expression, focusing only on his paw and the tarnished, gold object held within.

Her eyes widened in terror.

"Give it back!" she let out a squeaky blare at him

"It was on the floor-"

"Give it back!" she cut him off, sprinting forward. However she once more forgot that he body has a very limited amount of strength, her legs momentarily wavered and gave away under her weight

In a chaotic twirl of limb and wings she dropped forcefully onto the bed, chin hitting directly into another, thick wooden edge.

The sound of rattling teeth made him wince.

"Iris ar-"

"GIVE IT BACK!" she screamed at him, spitting out droplets of blood, she obviously bit her tongue

"Here!" Flare yelped in fear, extending his paw

She snatched the medallion swiftly and pressed it to her chest, she looked down at the tightly closed paw, loosened the claws a little to take a peek inside, with a gasp that sounded like a relief she pressed her leg again against her chest, with her eyes closed she froze in that position.

A single streak of blood was flowing from her mouth and down her lower lip.

"You have something-" he whispered, pointing at her mouth but his voice abruptly died somewhere within his throat

"I did what you wanted" she muttered, pushing herself up and slowly returning to the position he found her in this room today

She put the ruined object on the now empty mattress.

"I know" he replied gently "The truth is however that worry for Cynder is not the only thing that brought me here"

"I don't care about your personal feelings towards me. If you want the same from me you won't get any"

"I want to help you. Sorry for pointing this out again but you are in no position right now to stop me. I'm doing the best I can from the chance I have, exactly like you did when you sent me to tire Cynder out"

"You're going to regret it moron" she replied, this time however he couldn't hear any trace of threat behind her words

It was almost...endearing?

Flare smiled.

"You know, I couldn't help but notice that the medallion is broken"

"No" she interjected bluntly

He balked surprised.

"I didn't say anything yet!"

"I'm not giving it to you"

"I don't want to take it! I only wanted to offer to repair it"

"No"

"I may be stupid but I'm not clumsy! Besides it's already ruined, it's not like I can do any more harm to it"

"No"

"Come one Iris!" he pointed at the tarnished object "Just look at this thing! The ice you tried to meld it with shattered when it hit the floor, with your powers so weak currently there isn't much you can do, whatever layer you add won't last. Even if you regain your powers ice melts, you will have to remember to patch it regularly"

Her posture remained unchanged.

"No"

"Just let me finish!" he cleared his throat "When I was locked up in that prison of mine I used my fire powers for more things than just killing. I learned some very cool things. I can easily repair your necklace, we would only have to replace some parts of the chain as to avoid making it too small for you to wear it again. I would melt your old chain with the new one and attach the medallion later on, it would work and you wouldn't have to worry about forgetting to patch it. There are no workarounds when it comes to fire, whatever it does, it does it permanently"

Her eyes remained focused on the broken jewelry.

"You're not touching it"

Flare growled irritated.

"Why not? Is it really that important to you?"

She didn't answer that question.

He snorted.

"Fine. Tell you what, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's the deal with that medallion"

She remained silent.

He did the same, waiting for her to start talking again like she did so many times before. Minutes passed and she still didn't say a word

Then more time elapsed.

More.

And more.

Deciding that it was time to act he began to whistle and tap his claws against the floor.

Minutes passed.

More.

And more.

When he still didn't get any reaction from her, the concert he was giving only grew in power.

Minutes passed.

More.

And then Iris let out a defeated sigh.

In that moment he knew that he had won.

A broad grin appeared on his snout.

"My mother gave it to me"

His eyes froze on her silhouette the moment the devastated and full of suffering voice left her throat. The grin from his snout immediately disappeared, he felt a fist clenching his heart and bleeding his soul with guilt.

He felt like a jerk.

"I-I-I'm sorry I-I-Iris" he stammered "I-I-I didn't k-k-k-know"

She ran her claw gently along the surface of the necklace.

"I'm a mess Flare"

He swallowed when he heard her saying his name. Strangely this time he didn't hear any voice warning him that she is tricking him again.

He couldn't utter a word.

"I never told this to anyone"

"Not even your uncle?" he pried gently

"Our relations are...complicated"

He winced, averting his gaze while rubbing one of his legs. He felt embarrassed, he felt like he was trespassing on a territory that he didn't belong to and the only way he gained entrance was because he tortured the guard.

"S-s-sorry" he mumbled

She took a wavering breath.

"This is all that still remind me of my mom. I'm very protective of it"

"I never knew my parents, but I think I understand"

"Those memories are everything that make me remember how good my life once was"

Flare nodded, offering support, he couldn't do anything else, his memories were a complete opposite.

She gently tapped her claw against the round medallion.

"You know, I feel strange just by talking about it, strange in the good way. Perhaps you would like to hear the rest of my story?"

He gulped, shocked by the offer.

"I-I don't know if I-I will be a-a-able to-"

"Right now I just need a good listener" she chimed in "What do you say? Wanna listen to my story?"

He licked his lips.

"I-I-I would l-l-love to"

Iris patted the mattress just next to her.

"Then come, sit next to me"

His tail flew from side to side nervously.

"Didn't you s-s-s-say that y-y-you would a-a-attack me i-i-if I g-g-g-got to c-c-close?

"My claws and teeth won't touch your scales"

Flare shuffled on his legs, hesitation filling his every muscle.

"I'm too tired to speak like this all the time, this is a long story and I need to save my strength. You wanted to help me? This is your chance"

His eyes remained locked at her, time seemed to slow down for him, mind desperately looking for advice. There was no sound in his voice, he couldn't hear Iris' insulting manipulative voice that would wake him up, Cynder also remained silent, nobody was there to offer their support.

Only after a while he understood why.

He didn't need anyone's advice because he already made his mind.

Flare circled the bed around and jumped onto the sheets, when one of his paws touched the spot she offered him a shocking bolt shot through his whole body as if trying to scare him off.

He ignored it.

"W-w-what n-n-n-n-ow?"

She looked at him, he expected to see the breathtaking glimmer in her orbs, but surprisingly it wasn't there.

Where is the glimmer?

"Are you nervous?"

He lowered his gaze, focusing on her claws. They remained in place, like she said they would.

He nodded.

"Before we start could you do me a favor?"

His eyes went up, he just couldn't look into her piercing, intimidating eyes from this close. His yellow eyes kept shifting nervously from side to side.

"Y-y-y-yeah?"

"I'm quite hungry, could you grab some food from that tray over there?" she nodded at some spot behind him

He was relieved to turn his gaze away.

"The soup?"

"No, no" she disagreed confidently "Soup won't fill my stomach"

A spark of mischievous triumph crossed her eyes.

"Give me the bread"