Friends Til The End

by ShowShine

Meeting

Spike stirred awake, feeling something cold hit his head. He slowly opened his eyes and moved his fingers, feeling something wet and squishy. He brought his hand to his face to see that it was covered in mud. He sat up and looked around to see that he was in a dark forest. It was raining heavily too.

“Where am I?” Spike asked himself. He looked down to see that he was at the end of the river and it had washed him onto land. Spike stood up, his legs shaking a bit. The back of his head pounded and his vision blurred for a few moments. Once his vision regained, he took a few shaky steps. The wind howled loudly, shaking the trees. Spike struggled to stay upright and shivered. If it weren’t for the trees, water would be pouring down on him.

“I want mom and dad.” Spike muttered, tearing up a bit. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to stay warm. His stomach growled, making him wince in pain. He sniffled, wiping snot from his nose. He was freezing, tired, scared, hungry, and alone. Spike continued walk around, looking for some form of shelter. There was a rumble of thunder, making him jump in fear. A mix of rain and tears dripped down his face, which made it harder for him to see. He stumbled and fell over to his side, letting out a muffled cry.

“M-mom, Dad, please come back.” Spike cried out. Cold rain hit his body and he shivered. He just wanted his parents back. He sniffled again, covering his face. As he sniffled, he smelt something good. He sniffed the air, slowly standing up. It smelled like a mix of gems. He started to follow the smell, determined to get the gems. Spike struggled against the wind, swaying a bit.

“Almost there.” Spike grunted out. His stomach growled loudly. The smell got closer and closer. His mouth started to water. His feet squished in the mud, nearly sinking in. Soon, Spike approached a cave. He sniffed the air again. The gems were definitely in there. He didn’t smell any dragon so everything seemed safe. He got on all fours and slowly entered the cave, making sure that nothing was in there.

“Hello?!” Spike called out. All he heard was his voice echoing around him. He let out a breath of relief. The cave was so much warmer than outside. He looked around to see gems scattered all over the ground, which was very odd. Spike didn’t give it a second thought and picked up a handful, shoveling them into his mouth. He looked around the cave, looking for any signs of anyone living there. He looked on the wall to see a symbol. It was the same symbol that was on the Scale collectors uniforms. Spike swallowed his food and his scales flattened.

“They were here.” He whispered fearfully. Judging by the state of the cave, it seemed like they were there years ago. Spike shivered as a gust of wind blew into the cave. He picked up an armful of gems and walked to the back of the cave. He dropped the gems on the ground and drew in a long breath. He blew out a gust of fire, lighting the gems on fire. Since the gems weren’t flammable, they stated lit.

“I’ll leave when the storm stops.” Spike stated, laying down on the cold ground. He just hopped the storm stopped soon.

---

Gabby slowly opened her eye to feel something wrapped around her tightly. She looked around to see that she had fallen in a pile of vines. She was suspended from a tree. The vines wrapped around her wings and one of her legs. She opened her beak and bit one of the vines, snapping it. She reached over to another vine and snapped it off of herself. Soon, she dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

“Ow...” Gabby groaned out. She unraveled the vines from her wings and held them in her beak, looking for her red bag. Her bag had landed a few feet away from her and was now covered in mud. She placed the vines in her bag, feeling like they’d be important later. Gabby put her bag on her back and looked around. Her bandages were wet and soggy.

“Okay, don’t be scared, you’re just in a dark forest.” Gabby said with a nervous laugh, trying to calm herself down. She could ere the wind blowing and feel the rain hitting her. Her body felt heavy due to the rain building up in her feathers.

“I need to find somewhere to sleep for the night.” Gabby said to herself. She reached in her bag and pulled out a flashlight. She clicked it on and pointed it in front of her. The trees were tall and loomed over her. The bushes shook with the wind, making Gabby move away from them. She was afraid that something would jump out and attack.

“Okay first thing, I need to find footprints. They’ll most likely need to shelter.” Gabby said to herself. She knew all of this from the times her father had kicked her out of the house for the night. She doubted that she’d find any footsprints because the rain would’ve washed them away. Gabby walked around, shining her flashlight on anything that moved. After several minutes of walking, she stopped and looked around.

“This is hopeless.” Gabby stated, stopping her claw. She saw something move from the side of her eye, making her whip around with her flashlight at it. She let out a breath of relief when she saw it was just a leaf. Next to the leaf, there was a fresh set of footprints. She rushed over to them and inspected them closely. She put her claw on one to feel that it was still warm, despite the cold rain splashing on it.

“I need to go this way.” Gabby said to herself. She followed the footprints, wondering what creature made them. They were too small to be a manticore and too big to be a cockatrice. Gabby had seen different types of footprints but nothing like that. Soon she approached a large cave. She could see something green glowing from the inside. She listened closely to hear soft humming and a crackling fire. Maybe there was someone in there that could help her! Gabby ran into the cave, excited to see an adult that could help her. She stopped running when she saw a small dragon. He sat in front of the green fire with his knees up to his chest.

“Hello.” Gabby greeted. The dragon jumped in surprise, facing her. He gave a small wave.

“H-hello.” He stuttered our awkwardly.

“Can I stay here until the storm ends?” Gabby asked. The dragon nodded his head and Gabby next to him. She loved socializing with new people so she decided to ask a few questions.

“I’m Gabby, what’s your name?” Gabby asked, out stretching her hand.

“Spike.” The dragon answered, shaking her hand. Gabby looked around the cave. It seemed rather big for a small dragon like himself.

“Do you live here by yourself or with your parents?” She asked. Spike tensed up a bit.

“I don’t live here. My parents were taken by Scale Collectors.” Spike explained. Gabby tilted her head.

“What’s a scale collector?” She asked, now very curious.

“They’re a group that catches dragons and puts them in cages. Barely any dragons have gotten out alive and the ones who have are never the same.” Spike explained. His scales started to droop a bit. Gabby frowned and put her hand on his arm.

“Well I won’t let any scale collectors get you!” Gabby said confidently. Spike chuckled.

“Why are you in the forest at this time? Don’t you have a home?” Spike asked.

“I ran away. My dad was a bad person and beat me a lot. Now I’m just looking for a new place to stay.” Gabby explained. Spike thought for a moment.

“Well we’re both alone so why don’t we look out for each other? We can be pals.” Spike suggested. Gabby smiled and nodded her head happily.

“I would love that so much! I’ve never had a friend before I usually scare them off with my rambling, but I promise I’ll look out for you!” Gabby happily rambled, her tail wagging a bit. Spike smiled before shivering again. He had forgotten how cold he was. Gabby reached into her bag and pulled out a blue blanket. She wrapped it around Spike.

“There, now you won’t be cold.” Gabby said happily. Spike smiled.

They were going to make a good team.

Comments

[OmniFox]

A good couple.

[Phantom-Dragon]

Ah, the start of a beautiful friendship.

[Phantom-Dragon]

Pray tell, what’s the word on the next chapter?

[Comickook]

And now we get to the first meeting. Again, feeling bad for both Spike and Gabby, but I DID like how they comforted each other after they each admitted what they were doing in that cave.

Once more, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up were all well done in all the right places, as was the sweetness this time.

On to the next chapter.