So Much for Friends 1

Sky threw herself behind the sofa as the door broke inward.

Lumbering footsteps sounded across the floor. Sky quaked in fear of discovery. The steps drew closer. Sky held her breath. They passed. She let out a relieved sigh and ventured to peer around the sofa. She saw a male rounding the corner in her hallway. He had no obvious weapons and looked a little like Dain. His shoulders seemed broader than Dain's were though.

She heard a door open down the hall and waited for the male to reappear when he discovered her bed empty. Ten minutes passed and he did not come back. Sky decided to see what he was doing.

As quietly as she could, Sky walked down the hallway. She rounded the corner and saw the door to her room was open. Hiding her body behind the wall, she peeked into the room.

All her clothes had been ripped from the open closet and were strewn on her bed. They and the bed were rumpled. The desk drawer where she kept her knickknacks was open and her precious items were placed in a neat row on the desk. Sky looked for the male. He stood in front of the mirror. The remains of her corset dangled form his right hand.

It was Dain. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes that stood out starkly against his pearly skin. His mouth was tight as he stared into the mirror.

"Dain, you could have knocked." Sky said coming out from behind the wall. Dain's head snapped to her. His eyes widened and brightened for a moment. Then they fell to the floor and he put his left hand over his face. Sky's corset dropped on the floor as Dain's shoulders drooped. He walked to the far edge of the bed and sat facing the wall with the window. He remained there in silence as he stared blankly at the wall. Sky watched him for a few minutes before she began to walk over to him. His whole body tensed and she stopped. He was behaving oddly and it was making her a little afraid.

Finally, his right hand clenched and reddish-black fire enveloped it.

"I'm going to kill them." He said rising.

Dain pointed his right hand at the wall and a spiderweb of red-black cracks appeared on it. Then the wall around the cracks just vanished as if it never existed. Sky raced to him knowing something bad was going to happen.

"Dain, stop." She cried as a pair of glowing golden wings appeared on his back. His shoulders hunched again, and he raked a hand through his hair, pushing it back past his two golden horns. He turned and looked at her with a sad smile, then walked to the hole he'd made.

"Domute!" Sky yelled urgently. Dain froze and then began falling forward. Sky ran at him and wrapping her arms around his middle, threw herself backward. They landed with a crash on the floor. Before Sky could register that they weren't falling to their deaths, Dain had wrapped himself around her. She was about to try to extricate herself when she saw the small smile on Dain's face. From up close he looked exhausted, so she decided to let him use her as a pillow for a few minutes.

Week 9 Day 2 Loren

Sky woke first. Her left side was toasty but her right was freezing cold. Dain was on her left side. Slowly, Sky began to pull herself out from under him.

Looking at the wall, she saw the hole he'd made was still there. This was surprising because the repair wards should have fixed it by now. The air that entered the room, blown in by a steady wind, was frigid.

Finally, successful in extricating herself from Dain, Sky got up and grabbed a pillow and the blanket from the bed. She put the pillow under Dain's head then covered him in the blanket. After that was done, she took a shower, put her clothes away and began studying.

Sky was beginning to get hungry when someone started pounding on her front door. She hurriedly went to answer it. Her neighbor across the hallway was Instructor Drakkon and he did not strike Sky as a morning person. As she neared the door she heard West's voice frantically shouting for Dain.

Throwing the door open, she said, "Jeez West, you're going to wake Instructor Drakkon. Could you quiet down, please?" West let out a short breath and some of the franticness left his face and body. "What's wrong?"

"Is Dain here?" He asked.

Sky smiled in amusement, "Yeah, I put him to sleep, but I suppose I should end the spell now since he needs to go to class. Fin. It nice to see how close you-" West didn't wait for her to finish. He pushed past her and ran down the hall. Sky followed.

When she got to her room, she saw him standing at the foot of her bed staring down at Dain. West's shoulders sagged and he let out a relieved breath.

"He's asleep." He said softly.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty out of it last night. Said something about killing people so I cast Sleep on him." West heaved a sigh and looked at Sky for a long moment. Her mouth twisted and she shifted on her feet. "I was going to get to-go breakfasts for us." She said unable to take the scrutiny any longer, "Have you eaten yet?"

"I'll get them." West said. He swiftly left the room. Sky returned to studying.

A short while later, West knocked on the door again, much more sedately. Sky opened it and let him in. He was carrying what looked like far more food than was necessary.

"Is that all for us?" Sky counted five boxes.

West grimaced and said, "Dain hasn't eaten much recently. He'll probably be pretty hungry when he wakes up." Sky nodded.

"He didn't seem like he was doing well yesterday. I'll go wake him." She started to walk to the hallway.

"Wait!" West said. "I was actually hoping I could talk to you alone about something." Sky frowned at him and went to go get water for them instead. "You know you're in our debt, right?" Sky's frown deepened. Those were words no human ever liked hearing from a creature. "For the Aven situation." West added. Sky schooled her features back to a polite smile.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" She asked mildly. West frowned at her expression.

"Tell me your father's name and where exactly he was living." Sky's hand holding the water glass she was filling jerked and water sloshed onto her sleeve. She put the glass down and grabbed the hand towel.

Drying off as much of her sleeve as she could, she asked, "Why do you want to know, West?" Her voice was crisp and collected. Every syllable was pronounced without it sounding forced or hurried. She hung the towel back up and returned to filling the last glass.

West placed a hand flat on the table and looked at it. His jaw worked. He let out a sigh.

"I'm- I'm going to buy you for Dain." He said finally.