FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 8

"Took you long enough" Cyril grumbled when finally the two young dragons he was waiting for appeared in earshot of his usually annoyed voice

"Sorry for that, next time we'll remember to pull out the extra set of legs" Cynder replied briskly, a friendly mischievous smile present on her snout

The Guardian glared at her as if trying to turn her into a brick of ice by using only his eyes.

Spyro pinched her thigh with his tail tip, making her gasp faintly. Her indignant gaze landed on his meaningfully shaking head.

"You think that our visit here is a joke? That our dignity as dragons is a joke? Our-"

"I think that will be enough Cyril" Terrador stepped in, interrupting his friend's growing in strength monolog of annoyance

"Enough?!" Cyril snapped back coldly "Out of sheer politeness we left those two alone so they could indulge in their worthless social endeavors while we, the GUARDIANS of this city, sat like a pair of confused hatchlings by the temple's door for Ancestors know how long, waiting for our immature friends to kindly show their tails, only to be shunned into the corner of this..."

He waved his paw around the beautiful, thriving, colorful scenery around him, a small garden, well taken care of by the temple's faithful caretakers. The temple's greenish and clean landmark was a sight to behold for every passer-by.

"...sickeningly...flowery..." his nose curled in abhorrence "LOVE GARDEN!" he roared, clenching his risen paw into a shaking fist

"WHILE THIS..." he ferociously pointed an accusing, shimmering with drops of ice claw at Cynder

The unexpected, aggressive move made her head jerk back, even from here she felt the chilly gust of wind the swinging icy blade created.

"...this...GIRL...mocks me with stupid JOKES?!"

"I really suggest Cyril that you calm yourself" Terrador placed his paw on his friend's stiff shoulder, eyes scanning the surroundings, noticing many shocked stares directed at them of the people walking by

"Or we might have extreme difficulties convincing people who is truly in his right mind here"

The Ice Guardian shook the paw off angrily.

"Don't lecture me Terrador"

"All you do is complain, take a deep breath and take in the peaceful scenery and air, it will do you good. The temple will still be here when you exhale"i

Cyril snorted, a puff of icy mist wafted from his nose.

"You must be insane if you think that I will delve into anything Brill and his insane lackeys have to offer. For all we know the air around the temple might be the thing that messes with that rodent's already idiotic head"

Terrador looked at his friend with disbelief shining in his eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous"

"Am I? Maybe you are already under the influence of that little shit. You sure rise my eyebrows with all that mediatory nonsense you spit all the time whenever I think about that fuck"

"Spyro! Cynder!" The Earth Guardian exclaimed happily as he moved towards the two slightly stunned young dragons

"I'm so glad to see you! Why won't you entertain my friend over there while I'll drown myself in that pond right behind you"

Both young drakes looked at each other, before turning their heads behind their shoulders at the same time, spotting the very pond the Earth Guardian referred to.

After a quick examination of the pool of water their young eyes met once more. A single glance was enough to drag a merry chuckle from their throats.

Cyril rolled his eyes.

"Another fool, that's what we all need right now"

Terrador approached the two young drakes, letting out a tired sigh of relief.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you" he said, making sure that the Ice Guardian some meters behind didn't hear him "As much as I like my friend I had enough of his whining for years" he smiled "Now with you two here he will direct his charming attention to you and I will finally catch a breath"

"Is it really that bad?" Spyro inquired, throwing, as he hoped, an inconspicuous look at the ice dragon ahead

The smile on the usually stony face of the Earth Guardian grew wider.

"After you"

The purple drake turned his attention to his female companion with a smirk.

"Ladies-"

"Not a chance" Cynder cut him off "I already got slapped. You're the only one from the three of us that isn't mentally scarred. Yet"

Terrador chuckled under his breath.

"Fine then" Spyro sighed and moved to the front of his two friends "I'm sure it won't be that bad"

"Hey Cyril, I'm sorry that we're late, but-"

"Spare me the apologies" the ice dragon rumbled "If I wanted to listen to sweet, meek voices and watch huge puppy eyes I would go to the nursery. After I would puke my insides out of course, something that you are very close to triggering"

The young drake stopped in his tracks, one of his legs bent and frozen in midair as he stared at the Guardian dumbfounded.

"Don't put it all on me" he finally said after a moment of brief pause to gather his thoughts "It was your idea to wait by the temple for us"

Cyril's eyes widened in utter incredulity.

"So now it's my FAULT?"

"No, wait, I didn't say anything like that"

"Well excuse me oh mighty hero, next time I won't be so polite. I'll remember to foresee another unexpected encounter with your talkative friends or anyone else willing to speak to you for that matter. In the meantime I'll also freeze the moon and hold the sun in the sky as to avoid..."

His expression darkened, veins of fury appeared on his neck.

"...WASTING. ANY. MORE. TIME!" he roared, mouth parting wide, rays of the sun reflecting from the moist with saliva sharp razor teeth

Spyro stared at the Guardian, eyes huge as saucers "Wow" he exhaled before swallowing "Just wait a moment"

"WAIT?!" Cyril snorted, bluish wings spreading open as he swung his paw, almost slicing a tree next to him in half with his claws "All I do is WAIT!"

He narrowed his eyes on the purple drake "What now Spyro? Is there anyone else willing to drag you into a pointless conversation? In which you will gladly participate, after all you have no duties as a purple dragon, you can spend every hour on frivolities. All the troubles of this forsaken world will wait for you, for all eternity if they have to"

"AS I DO!" a rumbling blare wafted from, the tree managed to avoid the sharp tips of the dragon's swinging downwards claws

However the nearby flowers weren't so lucky. Several severed colorful tops jumped into the air, being the unfortunate victims of the ice drake's ferociously returning to the ground clawed paw.

"What is the meaning of this?!" a petite dragoness jumped from one of the side entrances of the temple, bluish robe wavering on the air turbulently, in accordance to her squeaky voice

Cyril glared at the female, luckily she was too far away to read the murderous glimmer in his eyes.

"Guardian, you of all people should know that this is sacred ground. This temple demands respect from everyone, society stature is irrelevant in this holy place"

"Respect?" the ice dragon whispered, voice pulsing with steady rhythm of wrath "You speak about respect?" Spyro noticed layers of frost appearing on the grass below, the wounded flowers died momentarily

Cyril licked his lips "You?" he growled, every tone of hardly clinging docility disappeared into cold oblivion of his chilly personality "I am royalty. YOU W-"

"We'll keep our voices down!" Spyro exclaimed, jumping in front of the ice dragon

He knew Cyril long enough to tell that when he mentions his supposedly royal blood, which thanks to the scarce information Iris provided might not be a complete imagined leap of a power hungry mind, things always go awry.

During typical daily chit-chats people just lose interest in a conversation, even if it was a very interesting and important topic. He has never been around when Cyril's highborn, whether true or not, stature was brought during a fit of anger and since life taught him precaution he wasn't going to test what the consequences might be today.

"Who do you think you are to speak in my name?" Cyril snapped at the purple drake

Spyro smiled at the dragoness ahead, with difficulties ignoring the practically mad Guardian behind his tail.

"We had some really roughs days, emotions still boil within us. This is why we came to this temple, to calm our heads, we just need time and your generous patience to let it atmosphere of serenity influence us"

The dragoness looked at him, then shifted her gaze at the Guardian behind who was breathing so heavily that he reminded Spyro of the evil train engine Steam and its Conductor under the service of the evil Cynder, a pair that he battled in Munitions Forge to save Terrador all those years ago.

The female's gaze returned to him in a moment's notice. She was still displeased to put it mildly, but his words, or presence, had an effect. There was no sign of the deeper wrinkles of anger he noticed when he laid his eyes on the girl for the first time.

"Very well" the dragoness responded "But it better be the last time you ruin the Ancestor's rest!"

Spyro bowed with a grateful smile "Thank you. It won't happen again, you have my word"

With a deep scowl the girl for the last time acknowledged the Guardian's presence, making it quite clear just how she thrilled she is about his visit before returning back into the temple.

"Very impressive young Spyro"

He turned around at the sound of the cheerful baritone voice, spotting Terrador and Cynder, both were smiling at him warmly.

"It was nothing" he replied sheepishly

"You don't give yourself enough credit, it's no secret that the City Hall perimeter and the temple grounds don't have much sympathy for each other. And yet that priest listened to you, a member of the opposite camp so to speak, who even we wouldn't be able to calm down"

"Yes!" Cyril blurt out indignantly "Bowing to those creeps is really impressive! We walk here on our own terms, we are here to stop whatever mind controlling thing Brill is cooking up inside, not kneel before them!"

"We are not here to make enemies"

"Of course not, we don't have to since they are already our enemies!"

The Earth Guardian sighed, rubbing his forehead "Ok have it your way, they are our enemies. That doesn't change the fact that a little understanding, modesty and respect can sway them, well maybe not to our side, but at least make them listen to us. Spyro showed us what we can achieve by simple charisma"

"We are the Guardians!" the ice dragon stomped his paw fiercely, ice shot from underneath his leg "Nobody is going to teach us how to behave and order us around!"

"Your arrogance and impertinent ego makes you blind Cyril. Whether you like it or not that priest was right"

"Wha-"

"Let me finish" Terrador interrupted his friend by raising his paw, moments later it returned to the ground where it belonged

"This is the final resting place dedicated to our Ancestors, you might not be the religious type but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't grant this place a tiny bit of respect. Forget about all those people in there and think about the statues, our Ancestors, the struggle they had to endure their whole lives so we could be where we are now. They fought through their entire existence so we could taste peace. Peace that they deserve also, if not more. Their fight is over, they didn't suffer for so long for us to stir havoc in their home"

The dragon turned his attention at the temple, a spark of reverence combined with a tear of longing shone in the corner of his left eye.

"Ignitus is among them, we might not care about the dragons that we never met, cruel but understandable, but if we deliberately forget about our old friend then we should be damned. Ignitus was a bridge, he connected Spyro's fate with our own so he could save us from Shadow's grip. He was the one who challenged the Belt of Fire, allowing our young heroes to make the first step into the realm of the Dark Master, hence saving our lives for the second time in a span of a couple of years"

"I don't know how about you but I will respect the priest's wish. Our friend deserves some rest"

Cyril's eyes landed on the temple even before Terrador truly got into the monologue, only when his old friend finished he gave permission to his mind to force a blink. Giving his eyes the well-deserved break, a break which his late red friend also earned.

His head dropped in resignation.

"Damn you Ignitus" he mumbled defeated

The Earth Guardian smiled comfortingly "Come, things will go well and if not we always got Spyro and his silver tongue to even the odds" he winked at the young dragon before making his way towards the temple's entrance

Cyril following in his tracks.

Only Cynder remained in place, observing her partner with a proud, loving smile.

"Did you hear that?" Spyro blurt out excitedly when his eyes landed on the black dragoness after they stopped following the two Guardians the moment they disappeared behind a statue.

"I'm persuasive!" he started to make his way after the two old dragons

"I know that. How else do you think you managed to catch my interest?"

"Thanks to my good looks?"

Cynder snorted.

He kept on walking, sliding his tail across her chin, only to gently pat the side of her nose with the flat end of his tail tip the moment it popped up from underneath her snout.

She giggled at the display of loving punishment, playfully smacking his tail away before following in his tracks.

The four of them had their minds busy with so many different thoughts that neither of them noticed that people began stopping whatever they were doing. Like they didn't notice that every single eye belonging to each recently frozen person started to observe them intently as they approached the door.

Terrador acknowledged the young dragons presence with a short nod.

"Here goes nothing" he reached towards the big, ornate door

"You must not!"

The eyes of the four dragons widened simultaneously at the sound of the practically mad and desperate shout, shimmers of shock clearly visible in the shadow of the looming statue above their heads.

"You must not!"

They turned around, spotting a mole approaching them, her arms were extended forward, fists shaking and clenched imploringly.

"Guys" Cynder whispered "They are all staring at us"

Only then the male part of the group looked past the mole, noticing the stares of the many people in the garden. There was a couple of passers-by that didn't seemed to be bothered by them, but most just observed them intently. Not lowering their prying gazes even when the dragons became aware of the uncomfortable attention.

"No matter" Terrador responded, eyes darting between every soul in the garden, a bulge of radiating anxiety saliva gathered on his tongue, he swallowed it bitterly "Remember that diplomacy is what leads us"

"Yes, let's us pretend that we don't see them and the screaming lunatic walking our way is just an importunate fan. Great plan" Cyril hissed sarcastically

"Taint cannot touch this holy ground!"

"Heeeey" Cynder squealed in fake delight "She's talking about me!" she grinned "I think that I just wet myself from the excitement. A fan! Oh boy! I'm so happy!"

Every trace of fake joy disappeared in an instant, making room for the honest, gloomy expression.

"No sudden movements" Terrador muttered calmly "We'll talk our way out of this"

"Taint must be stopped!"

When the female mole touched the marble tile just some meters ahead Spyro winced suddenly, nostrils invaded by a horrid stench.

"Ugh" he grumbled "Someone didn't bathe in a while"

The rest of the dragons smelled it too after a short while, all noses curled themselves in disgust, no matter how polite they tried to be and ignore the smell, mind reflex was quicker than them.

"Taint is not allowed in here!"

"We came here in peace" Terrador said the moment a few steps separated them from the mole

"And just want to talk" Spyro added

All four of them gasped when the mole's extended hands landed on Cynder's throat just below the silver choker.

"Taint must be stopped!"

She rolled her eyes "Now that's a surprise"

The three males exchanged dumbfounded glances between each other.

"We came here to pay our respects to the Ancestors" Spyro said, turning his attention to the newly arrived female

The rodent kept on walking, making the black dragoness move backwards until her rump hit a wall and she couldn't go any farther.

"The Taint must not spread its corruption!" the mole shouted directly in Cynder's snout

"Oh gods" she gagged, shutting her eyes tight as she turned her head to the side

She felt like the rotten stench of the mole's breath laid eggs all the way to her stomach.

"We are here to find answers to the troubles that unnecessarily divide our city" Spyro tried again

"Taint must be stopped!"

Cynder's eyes snapped open.

"Umm...guys?" she cleared her throat

"Please, all we want is to find some middle ground here. Warfang is big, there is room for any belief here"

"Taint must be stopped!"

"Guys..." Cynder rasped

"I don't think she hears me" Spyro announced resigned

"Taint must be stopped!"

"She's choking me"

All the male attention turned towards her.

Cynder coughed, sliding a claw underneath the rodent's clenched hand.

"Yep" she rasped once more, her voice barely audible as she used her last ounces of uninterrupted air "She's chocking me"

"Taint must be stopped!"

"This won't be tolerated" Terrador's commanding baritone voice rumbled in the air as he approached the mole

"I order you to release Cynder"

The black dragoness coughed "I don't think she listens" she whizzed

"Taint must be stopped!" the mole kept on screaming

"I won't repeat myself"

"Not...working" Cynder huffed

With a growl the Earth Guardian grabbed the moles hands in his paw and pried them away from the feminine scales.

"Are you ok?" Spyro asked worryingly

She coughed, taking a long and deep swig of air while impulsively rubbing her painful throat.

"Yeah"

"You must not!"

Terrador pushed the screaming and thrashing mole away from the group, holding her tight so she wouldn't get away.

"For open hostility on the streets of Warfang I place you under arrest, hopefully the prison bars will bring you back to your senses"

"You must not!"

He turned towards the group "As of today we will place guards on the surrounding walls, scared ground or not this is unacceptable. You go inside while I'll escort our troublemaker to the authorities"

"Diplomacy is overrated" Cyril added coldly

The Earth Guardian's eyes landed on the two young drakes "I'm counting on you two to stop him from doing anything completely stupid"

"You must not!"

The ice dragon snickered "You heard the lady"

"I'm serious" Terrador started to retrace his steps, the thrashing mole being pushed by his massive body "Behave"

The three remaining dragons observed the slowly shrinking form of the green Guardian and his newly found companion. A pair of amethyst eyes were the first that shifted to the side.

"These people" Spyro mumbled, observing the frozen temple visitors, none of them seemed to react to the recent events, their eyes were still aimed in the same one direction

"They are not watching us. They are staring at you Cynder"

Immediately she felt all the burning gazes of the people on her, as if a hammer would be pounding her head, pushing her deeper and deeper into the ground until she was no bigger than an ant.

"This should be fun" Cyril commented cynically as he pushed the round ornate door open

They creaked ominously.

*

"MURDERER!"

Her eyes snapped open, she found herself staring at an empty wall, her stomach rumbled. She rolled around, onto her belly, driving her head into the soft pillow. World went dark again.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" roared the one eyed white snout

"MURDERER!" again

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" and again

She lifted herself on her shaking front paws, freeing herself from the soft embrace of the pillow and the screaming image of that traitorous motherfucker. Her diamond eyes observed the white, crunched pillow below.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" a hollow voice rumbled within her skull

She growled and punched the pillow.

"MURDERER!"

Another strike.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

And another.

"MURDERER!"

One more.

"IT'S-"

Again.

"M-"

Again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The rumbling voice disappeared and yet she still kept on punching.

Again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Until nothing was heard besides her furious growling.

With one last swing of her paw she drove her claws into the pillow, rippling the material with a characteristic sound of cracking sheets. She hurled the pillow at the wall that greeted her when she opened her eyes with a shout full of suffering, filling the room with a rain of white, soft feathers.

With a swift spin she rolled herself on her back, one paw landed on her forehead, the other hectically patted the mattress under the sheets until her claws clicked on an object she would recognize even in the dark. She removed it from underneath the covers and pressed her tightly clenched paw, with the medallion locked inside directly to her heart, the grip was so strong that she cut her paw.

A lazy stream of blood slid down the corner of her tightly clenched clawed fist.

Silence.

You vengeful bitch.

It makes you reminisce old memories, relive every single hour of your horror filled life, remember every sound, smell and taste. You start to think, every single time you start to think and you can't stop. It doesn't matter that you already went through every scenario, it's an never ending cycle. Yet whenever the boomerang of thoughts return its impact is stronger than before.

It hurts so much that you want to tear your brain out.

Silence.

Go fuck yourself.

"Hush..." she licked her lips, her peculiar voice rasping like an ancient dragon "...Hush my love..." she sang slowly, making pauses after each word as if they were all a different sentence. Her voice lacking any kind of melody to it, or practically any sound, coming only as a whisper

"...Hush my love now..." she took a wavering breath "Hush my love now don't you cry...e..." the clenched fist gently struck her chest "...every-thing will be all right..." her voice faded away, only humming remained, continued in the same slow tone

Her paw striking her heart to the rhythm she so perfectly remembered.

She remained like that, humming to herself for what felt like an eternity, a complete empty vast space, with no thoughts and no memories. Only the sound of this comforting humming, each word solely for her soul to hear.

Eventually even the humming ended and the paw clenching the medallion opened, dropping the delicately blood covered object on her chest. She rose the wounded paw to her snout. A hollow cut ran at the corner of her leg, lazy streak of blood coloring her bluish scales.

A thought crossed her head in a speed of light.

You have blood on your paws.

She pulled the leg closer, when her tongue touched the blood a pitiful whimper escaped her throat. She impulsively swallowed, dragging the metallic taste of a droplet of her life giving crimson liquid with her saliva.

Another whimper.

She smacked her forehead with the other leg.

Again.

Again.

And again.

She started licking at the wound, narrowing her diamond gaze furiously at the paw whenever her tongue finished its cleaning slide. Several licks later no trail of blood was present on her paw, only the cut slightly pulsed with reddish hue.

She dropped the injured leg onto the sheets, with the other one she reached for the medallion, impulsively dragging it in front of her eyes where it froze. Her diamond gaze intently evaluated every inch of the tarnished jewelry, especially focusing on the new, shabby red color of blood.

She stared at the nearly wiped streak for an uncountable amount of time, until her eyes finally sparkled with overwhelming feeling of hate and loathing.

She pulled her second leg into her line of sight which she greeted with a brief glance before she drove the rough edge of the medallion into the previously licked cut.

Blood pushed out from the wound.

With the object ledged into her flesh she drove it backwards, with the cracking sound of scales she enlarged the previously small cut almost to the other side of her paw. She pulled out the medallion fiercely, droplets of blood and bits of scales shot after the rough edge of the jewelry with a wet sound.

The cut bled profusely.

Her cold diamond gaze landed on the bloodied, tarnished round object which after a few seconds received the hot and wet attention of her tongue. This time the combined metallic taste of both her blood and shabby gold had no impact on her. She intently cleaned the medallion while her injured paw dropped on the white sheets, momentarily turning them red.

After a few very precise licks the medallion shone solely with her saliva which she wiped off with the bottom side of a second pillow. When the cleaning was done she put the medallion back on her chest, jerked her upper body to the side, prepared to return the pillow to its rightful place.

And then her paw froze.

She narrowed her eyes on the soft like a cloud piece of material as if trying to burn a hole right through it with just her sight.

Minutes passed.

After which she swung her paw, hurling the pillow at the very same wall that greeted her today. The pillow hit the solid surface with a muffled smack, second later joining its torn companion on the ground below.

Feathers blew up in the air.

She pushed herself to a sitting position, covering more and more of the white mattress with her blood as she plunged her wounded paw underneath the sheets from which she soon fished a broken, tarnished gold chain. Carefully holding it in her claws as to not stain it.

With both pieces of her necklace, each one in a different paw, she dragged the sheets towards herself using her teeth. On which she reverently placed both parts, as if they were a work of a renowned artist, ready to be forever locked in a display case.

She intently observed the broken necklace, her mind calculating the best approach as how to fix it.

Her stomach rumbled.

In that very moment the door to her room opened.

"How are we feeling today?" a happy feminine voice filled her room

A young cheetah pushed the door open using her rump, her furry tail crossed the doorstep first. She was halfway into her spin the moment her first leg stepped into the room. Even when her face was still turned towards the corridor it was obvious that she was holding a tray of food.

"Talkative as a-" the happy voice momentarily ended abruptly the moment the cheetah's eyes landed on the blood covered bed and the satin blue dragoness sitting on it. The feathery mess escaped her attention at the moment

"What happened?!" she yelled loudly in alarm, dashing into the room, putting the shaking trey onto the nightstand

She jumped towards the bed, hands intertwined on her forehead.

"There's blood everywhere!" she shouted, caring and stressed eyes quickly finding the answer for this unexpected mystery

"Your paw! It's bleeding badly! Did you cut yourself?" the cheetah impulsively reached for the draconic leg

"Leave it" Iris stated fiercely

The girl's eyes widened, hand froze in midair.

"Leave it?" she muttered

"I made myself clear"

"But you're bleeding!" the frozen hand pressed onwards

"Leave it!" she snarled at the healer, making the girl jump back startled

The feline pressed her hand to her chest, calming her racing heart.

"You can't risk like that!" the cheetah protested "Your body is going through the strenuous process of fighting a very potent poison of sorts! You need your regeneration ability to fully concentrate at that!"

Cold, white eyes directed themselves at the cheetah.

"Are you mentally retarded or did fur got stuck in your ears that you can't understand simple commands? I told you to leave it"

The cheetah's meek and friendly face was rippled by a wince of sheer aggression. Not everyone possess high tolerance for snarky remarks.

"I'm trying to help here and you insult me?"

"I don't want your help"

"That's part of my job!"

"Then help yourself to the door"

One of the feline's hands clenched into a fist. She quelled down a growl.

"You are under a good care here, this is your idea of being grateful?"

"Grateful? You want me to thank you for doing your job?"

The cheetah folded her arms on her chest "Seeing as you still breathe I would say you should thank us for doing a VERY good job"

Iris pointed her claw at the nightstand.

"What is that then?"

The girl frowned, following the draconic pointer which aimed at the tray of food she just brought.

"That's food" she responded indifferently, face carrying the same frown as she looked back at the dragoness

"With only one bowl of soup"

The feline shrugged "So?"

"What did I say about my food you incompetent fool?"

The girl growled, this time letting her anger to be heard clearly.

"Listen you rude-"

"I'm a dragon" Iris cut the cheetah off by raising her accent filled voice to such a cold level that each word felt like a freezing icicle

"I eat more than you weaklings, what kind of a very good job you are doing if you starve me? I ordered you slaves to bring me three bowls and throw away the rest of the crap. I can't digest it moron"

"This is the standard dish for your case!" the cheetah snarled "You can't eat more than one bowl of soup! The rest is here to remind your stomach that there is more to food than just soup! We have orders to-"

"Exactly" Iris cut in again "I ordered you to bring me three bowls"

The cheetah narrowed her eyes on the dragoness indignantly, lips wavering, sharp fangs sticking out from her mouth.

"You know what? Screw you!"

Iris aimed her cold shimmering with hate gaze on the feline. The temperature in the room dropped slightly.

"We are working our assess off to make you sure that your every need is taken care of without any discomfort for your healing body and this is what we get?! I'm done!"

The girl stormed towards the door and then opened them with such a force that they nearly slammed into a wall. She stopped in the doorstep.

"I was about to propose to change your sheets but now you can drown in your own vile blood for all I care!"

The door slammed shut.

Fools.

*

"What an ungrateful bitch!"

Everyone that currently occupied the main hall of the hospital looked in the direction of the corridor from which the furious shout rumbled. It didn't matter if you were a healer or a patient, a dragon or some other specie. It didn't matter if you had fur thick as a bear, just like that cheetah sitting on a small bench on one side of the hall. It didn't matter if your body resembled a burning, walking fire, looking exactly like the peculiar red dragon sitting in the opposite side of the room.

In this very short moment everyone was struck by the same bolt of surprise.

A young cheetah appeared at the end of the corridor, veins of raw fury covered her arms, even visible through the fur. She completely ignored the many stares directed her way, constantly muttering under her breath as she made her way behind a desk. One of two chairs was already occupied by a dressed in white mole, a typical outfit for every healer in this hospital.

Someone clapped their hands and the hospital as if by a magic touch, returned to its typical and for most people here normal, raucous atmosphere.

"I warned you youngster" the female mole said with a delicate tone of pride in her voice "Some people are simply toxic"

"I didn't even get a thank you!" the cheetah confided angrily "All I heard was insults!"

"From the look of your face I guess you had a ride with the Ice Queen" a second female cheetah commented with a giggle as she joined the two healers at the desk

The young feline scowled "Very funny"

"Hey, you insisted on going there. We all have been in your place"

"We're going to need to find another ambitious soul" the mole added, offering a patient that approached the desk a bandage and some ointment for the cuts the unwilling customer complained about

"It was still about the soup?"

The young cheetah nodded.

"Soup and her injuries. There's a cut on her paw and it's bleeding badly, she's sitting in a bed that is completely red by now. She still didn't let me help her"

The other girl's ears flattened on her skull "Blood? That's a new one"

The mole turned towards both females, obviously intrigued by the news.

"There is nothing in the room that would be able to make a wound like that if struck by accident. Seems to me the cut was self inflicted"

"You mean she did that to herself?" the recently traumatized cheetah shuddered "It must hurt like hell. The wound is pretty deep"

"We can't ignore this, it might be symptoms of a psychic breakdown"

The other cheetah snorted.

"Please, symptoms? That bitch is mental already, no doubts about that"

The mole shrugged "Whatever the case may be, self punishment still sounds serious"

"Listen, you want to help her? Be my guest since I doubt you will find any other volunteer, we've sorted through the whole personnel at this rate already. So I wish you the best of luck, just remember that from what I understood she didn't want any assistance"

The rodent shook her head "Amela won't be pleased"

"I doubt that she would blame us. If she wasn't so busy I'm sure she would be sitting with us here now. I mean just look..." she turned around, pressing the side of her opened palm to the corner of her mouth

"Hey Mel!" she yelled, in the loud atmosphere of the hospital's main hall her shout didn't provoke any attention, in fact considering the current busy situation her loud shout was like a whisper

The girl named Mel was occupying the opposite desk. She had the chin of her long snout rested on her opened in the shape of a letter V hands, elbows of which were tightly pressed against the wooden frame of the desk. Nose protruding like a canon, goggless eyes staring at the wall ahead.

"Hey Mel"

"Touched you...felt you..." Mel mumbled

The cheetah spun around, bestowing her two companions with a meaningful look.

"See what I mean? Of course you might say that I'm full of shit since Mel is known for her occasional shutting off, it's a mole thing I think, they have to recharge their geek batteries somehow"

"That is not-"

"Whatever" the feline cut off her mole friend with a dismissive wave of her hand "What's really important is that you could always wake her up, all you had to do was to snap your fingers, but now..." she whistled

"It all started when Mel over there had the unfortunate bad luck for her duties to also include the Ice Kingdom, when she left that room she was never the same. The Queen got to her, harder than to any of us. It all started with a small mistake in that day's food service, Mel being blind as a bat"

She nodded at the mole next to her.

"No offense"

The rodent shrugged, impulsively rubbing her goggles.

"Instead of squeezing an orange to fill a glass of juice she accidently shredded a piece of bread into it. Don't ask me how she confused the two. However she did a very good job of processing that thing, I mean, I saw the tray and I couldn't see even the smallest of crumbs! That's huge, since, you know, I'm a cat" she pointed at her eyelids "Baby got eyes"

"She brought the tray to our princess and as you very well know, she can't digest anything that doesn't have consistency of piss. You can imagine what happened when she took a sip of that juice. Poor Mel had to clean all that disgusting stuff, that spew still has blood in it ugh. She had to keep the room sterile you know, I can't even imagine what insults she had to stand. She broke her I tell you"

"Mel cleaned the room at least, while we talk, leaving our patient sitting in an unhygienic environment" the mole muttered guilty

"Serves her right!" the recent visitor to the Ice Kingdom shouted "Look what she did to Mel!"

"I still think we treat her far better than she deserves. It's only fair that we get some payback" the other feline female added

"I still think we can do better" the young cheetah smiled malevolently

"What do you mean?"

She nodded towards the main hall. Both females turned.

"That burning guy over there" the youngest feline continue "He is still sitting here even when we told him that no visits will be taking place. What if we changed our minds?"

"That's against the rules..." the mole mumbled gloomily

"Please! Don't tell me that you aren't tempted!"

The rodent sighed.

"I knew it!"

The other feline clapped her hands "Let's see how she reacts to an unwelcome visitor" she looked between her two companions

"So who's going to have the honor?"

The younger cheetah momentarily lifted herself up, ironing the outfit she was wearing with her own confident hands.

"I will"

*

He kept staring at the floor, out of boredom counting the passing shadows, until one surprisingly grew up, reaching his paws. He looked up, meeting eye to eye with a politely smiling, young cheetah.

"Flare, was it?"