Request by :

_saltedcaramel

Hope you enjoy :D

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Lizzie's Pov/ Kinda 3rd person

–

"Um Joel? Don't you have a bridge to cross?

Joel turned to look at her as he placed a boat down.

"Well you see, I know I'm all godly and stuff but, I don't have the materials just yet to make bridges, I'm pretty sure Pix is working on a humongous bridge soon though!"

He chuckled to himself as he got in the boat, Lizzie cautiously getting in after him.

"And I would fly but you don't have wings yet, soooo, and It wouldn't feel nice being dropped and taking time to respawn, you don't even have a bed yet, so it'd be way worse"

"Well yeah I see that now."

She kept her arms and legs away from the water. What did catch her eye was the fish in the water. She couldn't help but let herself lean further towards the water, trying to get a closer look at the small creatures.

"Lizzie hold onto the bo-"

Splash.

     The boat tipped over, or she tipped over the edge, being so fascinated by the fish that was under them. Oh my goodness, why did this river have to be so wide? She would've been okay if she was right next to the riverbank, but all she saw now was a blue murky water, surrounding her with no escape.

     She trashed around in the water, desperately trying to swim back up. She only sank further into the water. The water felt like it was burning, but freezing. She was sure she could feel her heart beating out of her chest, she couldn't breathe.

     There was muffled yelling above the water, it was getting into her lungs, the water. She needed to get up. She felt weak, she felt tired. She let her eyes close as someone grabbed her arm, pulling her up onto the bank of sand. She was coughing, she dug her nails into the person who had pulled her up. They tried to help the best they could with her thrashing around, Lizzie could tell there was more than one person but she couldn't decipher who they were.

"Lizzie! Lizzie! Can you hear me?!"

It was Joel, he sounded panicked. Everything was so blurry.

"She's pale, but she should be alright. She didn't inhale too much water, let's just give her a second, okay?"

     It was Scott's voice. That's right, Joel's kingdom was right next to Chromia. She slowly got lowered down onto something soft, making soft needy gasps to get more air than water into her lungs.

     Shuffling could be heard as something warm appeared by her side, she could hear the soft crackling of a fire. It was a campfire, maybe she'd dry off quicker now.

"Lizzie.? You can hear me now right.?"

With a small nod she slowly sat up, coughing slightly from being drenched in the river water.

"Oh thank goodness, Are you alright? You inhaled so much water I thought you were gonna drown and I wasn't sure if you had a bed and you know how long and painful it is to drown then respawn-"

He got stopped with a finger on his lips.

"Joel I'm okay, just, calm down a little? See, I'm fine now aren't I?"

Joel sighed before gently patting her on the shoulder, nodding, and then pulling Lizzie into a hug.

"Can I please dry off? This.. Water is making me feel soggy."

She frowned and inched closer to the campfire that was set down by Scott.

Joel nodded and sat beside her, making sure she was okay.

"So scared of a little water huh?"

Scott grinned and sat in front of them, on the other side of the campfire.

"Shut up Scott."

     Lizzie glared at him but Scott just shrugged it off, gently elbowing Joel with a grin. Oh boy she wasn't gonna live this down was she.

–

     The nightmares got worse every time they teased her with water. They even fake splashed her with a potion that looked like water. This wasn't funny anymore, the water was making her fur all damp with her tail getting harder to hide. Not to mention when her clothes got gone they would sag, especially since she had so much on! Gloves, high socks, A mask that formed with her face.

     She couldn't tell anyone, what if they hated her for it? What if they laughed more. She couldn't stand the embarrassment!

–

     They dumped her into a bucket of water, laughing as she tried to escape the man's grip. He was so much bigger then her, there was no chance she could escape from the boys and girls torturing her.

     She repeatingly got dunked into the water until she threw up onto the pavement, it was hard to breathe, her small lungs were trying to get air but it wasn't working. The people around her scattered off, leaving her a mess on the floor.

–

     Lizzie jerked up from her bed, gasping for air as she looked around. The memories of the past hurt, especially when she relieved them in her head like this. She hated this. They hated her, didn't they? She knew those kids did. But why? What did she do wrong to them? Or did they hate her in that village because she was part animal and they were all human. What if the others did what they used to do? What if they hated her for being what this is.

"Hey Liz?"

     She quickly grabbed her mask and put it on, quickly pulling the blankets up to hide her mismatched skin. The mask wasn't fusing with her skin, oh no.

"Lizzie?"

     Someone walked into her room and went still. She could feel herself shaking. They were gonna hurt her. Oh no. Oh no no no, this was bad, they were gonna-

     They walked closer and sat on the edge of the bed. It was Joel. Oh god, it was Joel. he could do anything to her and she wouldn't be able to stop him. He could even kill her if he really wanted to.

"Hey hey, why are you shaking so much.?"

He put his arms out, carefully taking the mask off of her. She sniffled, and Joel knew what she was now. What was he gonna think of her now? Why was she so nervous? Didn't he love her?

"Lizzie dear, what's wrong?"

He shuffled his way over to her and hugged her. He loved her.

"You don't.. You don't hate me.?"

Joel looked a bit shocked and looked down at her.

"Why would I ever hate you?"

She motioned to her ears and tail.

"For being part animal? Lizzie, Fwhip is legit a goblin and we all love him, no hate towards any other goblins or how Fwhip acts and stuff, but really, no one will care that your part animal, it doesn't change who you are, do you hear me?"

Lizzie sniffled and nodded, holding onto Joel's arm tightly. He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you want me to tell the others and meet up or do you wanna do it when you're ready?"

She held up one finger and Joel nodded.

"Alright, tomorrow?"

     She nodded again, relaxing more now that Joel understood her and knew what she was without any hateful words or acts. She could finally feel safe, but were the words true that Joel said about the others?

–

     They laughed, they kept laughing. She knew Joel shouldn't have told them. Joel was laughing now as well. She blinked, where was she? She was surrounded by water but she wasn't wet.? But she couldn't breathe either. Why was this happening to her? What did she do so wrong? Was this even real? Was she dreaming.?

–

"Guys, Lizzie would like me to announce something."

Joel's loud voice boomed through the tiny room they were all in. Joel had to make it in such short notice.

"Well hurry up with it. You know I don't like you Joel. I need to get back to tumble town as soon as possible."

Jimmy sounded annoyed, getting smacked behind the head from Scott.

"I have the feeling it has something to do with the teasing? I mean I try not to do it much but it is kinda funny you're scared of water, it's hard to escape it y'know? But I totally understand, everyone has a fear of something."

     Lizzie hid behind Joel, not daring to speak up from herself from the previous dream she had after she fell back asleep. She didn't need or even want that dream to come true.

     Joel pulled her in front and carefully pulled the mask off of her face. Everything was silent and even Lizzie herself could feel her own body shaking. No one dared to talk as Joel stared them down, perhaps warning them not to say anything horrible, not like that wanted to anyway.

"I didn't know you were a kitty cat, you look so fluffy!"

     Sausage piped in cheerfully. He had even a warmer smile than ever. She looked over at the rest of the groups. Even the sheriff was smiling. She could finally be herself with her friends. She was grinning like an idiot by the time she hugged everyone.

–

     Everyone surrounded the purple rift, joking and talking about whatever they wanted to, Trading deals, builds, new ideas. They heard faint voices coming from around them as they looked around.

"Do you guys hear that?"

     Oli spoke as he got closer to the rift. He had gotten up from his spot where he was playing his instrument to try and investigate.

"We're not about to play Sherlock Gnomes. We're staying right here because we don't know what is through that portal. We need to be as safe as possible. Do you hear me? We can't goof off like you normally do."

Oli grumbled and stepped aside to let Pix investigate instead.

"Do you think someone is on the other side?"

Just as Lizzie spoke a piece of paper got thrown into his face, making him fall back and onto one of the small bushes. Hey, at least it cousined his fall.

"New portal who dis.?"

     Pix stared at the paper confused, how did it get through if it just felt like it was a slimy solid? This was just a joke right? It wasn't funny, not after what happened to him and the.. He couldn't think about it, he shouldn't think about it. Why did they make him feel so scared?

"Haha very funny, didn't know you knew how to joke around Pix"

     Pix looked up at them with a concerned look, looking at the paper then the portal. He quickly launched his rockets, dropping the paper on the ground. The horrified expression had everyone worried, concerned even. They've never seen that, he-

"Pix! Where are you going?!"

     Sausage followed after him, going as fast as he could. Everything stood next to the paper, Joel picking it up. Pix never looked this horrified. Was this thing dangerous? What happened to Pix? Why did he look so.. Scared.? Surprised? Horrified. Defintainly horrified.

     Oli stepped closer inspecting the rift. It was slimy but a rough solid, it almost felt ticklish. He started to sink into it, and he thrashed around, now panicked.

"I don't wanna die! Help!"

     Oli scrambled around, kicking every which was in an attempt to escape his possible death he was slowly being dragged into.

     Scott quickly pulled him back and away from it. Yes he may not have liked him or been the best of friends but c'mon. He was still a friend, and he couldn't let him go to who knows where!

     Scott sighed and got everyone away from the portal. Lizzie just stared, she had put that fox through the portal, where who knows it was gone to now. Was it even safe? No one knew.

     She didn't get a good feeling about this, oh not at all. Forget the water, this was probably way worse, but only the future could ever really tell.

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--- 2007 words ---

:D

I'll be working back and forth on my two main books and try to complete requests as best as I can

Don't worry I'll be taking breaks

Next one I'll try to do is kinda like Nature wives but with Joey, so two request in one if thats alright :]

But anyways hoped you enjoyed this :D

(Now accepting Hermits in requests page)