Sky took a deep breath as he entered the clearing in the woods later that evening. The sound of rustling leaves, the waterfall, and the chirping of birds filled the air. His heart raced as he called out to his friend.

"Haywire! Hey, big fella, are you there?" he yelled.

Nothing.

I wonder where he is right now, he thought as he stood there with his thumbs in his pockets and the rest of his hand hanging out of it, as usual, while admiring the view of the lake, the waterfall, and the ebony-coloured cliff. I never asked him to stay here for me, but... It's kind of heartwarming that he does.

A rustling behind some bushes caught his attention, but the noise soon faded away.

A moment later, the palm of his right hand was wet. He flinched and shrieked due to the surprise.

"Damn, Haywire!" he exclaimed after he turned and spotted a lubricant-wet nose and beak he knew too well.

Haywire appeared before him with playful eyes and chirped. The metallic wings of the phoenix shone in the orangey light of twilight. Sky couldn't help but smile as he saw his friend.

"You scared me again!" he exclaimed as he came closer to him and shook his wet hand, trying to get rid of the excess of that gooey lubricant fluid, but he wasn't mad. "You like catching me by surprise, huh?"

Haywire let out a soft chirp and nuzzled Sky's hand with his beak. Sky scratched him behind the ears and all the way down to his neck.

"Oh, I see you managed to take off the splint I made for your tail. Let me check if it's okay." Sky squatted beside Haywire's tail and examined it. "You can heal pretty fast! It's in pristine condition."

A proud series of chirps followed, making Sky chuckle.

"Thank God I found you. I need someone to talk to, but..." Sky said, heartbroken as he petted Haywire on his back. "I've got no one but you. And Aunt Naomi... but I can't share with her what I know about you now."

Haywire replied with a soft whine and a deep stare.

"I've had a rough day today," Sky whispered, his eyes hooded and tired. "And I had a rough night before that. I need a break. From everything and everyone."

Haywire watched him intently, leaning his head to one side with curiosity.

"The swarm had suddenly increased in number," he began to explain to his winged friend. "Led by a new Sonic Echo Ranger that's not you, Haywire. They attacked the Hovering Hive with a fierceness never seen before. A Thunderbreaker startled us and wanted to kill my unit. I managed to defeat it, but–"

He stopped. What now? I killed it. A phoenix. Like Haywire. I did it, so it's my responsibility. I wonder whether he will understand the pressure I'm under. Will he become upset with me?

"I had to kill it, Haywire," he admitted with a breaking voice. "Otherwise, it would've killed a classmate... and me, too."

The cybernetic beast nuzzled against Sky's chest while his hands grazed the skin beneath his metal feathers quite absent-mindedly.

I'm more upset about it than he is.

"That new Sonic Echo Ranger has people talking. It seems more powerful than you, some said. It escaped last night, unharmed. I also overheard they stopped looking for you since the tracking signal no longer appears on the radar. You'll be safe—for now. At least, that's something."

He sighed.

"I slept very little last night, after the fight. I couldn't stop obsessing about... about a message." He stopped and huffed. "Maybe you know something, but how can I communicate with you effectively?"

Then, he put both hands on either side of Haywire's face, stared deeply into his eyes with fierce determination, and said, "Do you know who Endurance is?"

Haywire's frown furrowed and his pupils shrank drastically.

"You do. Who is it? Is it a 'he', a 'she', or... what?"

Haywire whined as if he had been hurt.

"If only you could talk with words," Sky whispered and let go of his face. He kicked a black pebble, which splashed into the lake and sank. "I believe this Endurance knows who I am and calls me the 'Entity' for some reason. I don't know how but Endurance said it knew I had brought you down the other night and forced a cut on your communications, also freeing you. Is Endurance who I suspect it is? The one behind the swarm's aggressiveness? Is it the one who's implanted those behaviour-monitoring chips and weaponised you?"

A low-pitched chirp came out from Haywire's beak, followed by a rather shame-filled bowing of his head.

"I see. I'm not wrong, I suppose. From your reaction." Sky clenched his teeth and fists. "Endurance seeks vengeance against Anti-Ageing Inc., and now me. It thinks I'm defending the company's lack of ethics, but I've got no idea what that is about. Do you know anything? Is there anything you can tell me about Endurance?"

Haywire raised his head and stared at Sky deeply in the eyes. A shrill cry echoed from the depths of his throat to the sky. With a claw, it withdrew the biggest pebbles until the sand below was exposed. Then, it drew a couple of wavy, intertwined lines on the dark sand.

When he was done, Sky remained frozen, staring at the lines with a furrowed brow. His feet were rooted on the spot as he whispered with bewilderment, "What is that?"

Haywire whined loudly as it took a step backwards and growled at the sign he had just drawn.

"I don't understand," Sky said, trying to make an effort to guess what Haywire was trying to say.

He approached the drawing and squatted down in front of it. Bringing a hand closed to it, he watched Haywire intently.

"What if I touch it? Will something happen?"

When his hand was one inch away from the lines, Haywire growled even louder—at the lines, not at him.

"Interesting," Sky said, retrieving his hand. It's something with this shape and it's meant to harm people somehow. Is this something related to Endurance's power, or Mrs Evergreen's? "What if I mention another name? Mrs Khali Evergreen. What does she mean to you?"

Another growl ensued.

"So, you know her. And you despise her even though you're not under Endurance's control now." That's food for thought, I guess.

A sigh left his lips.

"I met her today during the lunch break," he admitted. "She doesn't seem like a bad person." If you don't count that sly smirk of hers.

Haywire made a series of disapproving chirps as it balanced its head. It turned around and lay down in a grumpy mood, giving Sky his back.

"I don't know her that much, really. You think I'm wrong, right?"

Haywire let out a puffing sound and stared at Sky from the corner of his eye.

"That wasn't the worst of the day, anyway," he added as he came close to Haywire and sat down beside him. "To make matters worse, everybody's talking behind my back. And they brought up my father's achievements in History class—as if I haven't got enough pressure on my shoulders."

And I still don't know whether word got to my mother about what I did last night. To be honest, logic dictates that she should be proud of me, but my imagination fails to picture her being nice to me anymore. I wonder what will happen when we do talk face-to-face next.

Sky caressed Haywire's back from the back of its head to his shoulders. It purred like a cat while the tension in his body faded away with every touch of Sky's fingers.

"Not only do I fear meeting my mother," he went on, "but also Hazel. She's the girl I like, but... she's not the same I used to know. She's a lot tougher now. Her dream is to become MVS and get the scholarship, but Mrs Evergreen thinks I can snatch it from her if I keep on studying hard and killing phoenixes. Aunt Naomi was glowing with pride when she said that. I'd love to be MVS, to be honest. I want to make both Mom and Aunt Naomi proud, but I don't want to hurt Hazel."

His gaze got lost in an unknown spot in the distance as he opened his heart to Haywire.

"Why is this happening to me?" he asked, whispering in a heartbroken voice. "If I do something, I hurt somebody I love. If I don't do anything, people still hate me and I'll still be stuck. Not to mention that somehow I've managed to piss Endurance off, whoever that is. Why is life so complicated?"

He put his hands in his hair and dishevelled it, grunting in annoyance. When he was done, an exasperated sigh escaped from his chest as he stared at the first stars appearing in the evening sky.

Haywire stood up again. With a quick move, he got behind Sky and put his head down, touching the pebbled ground. Then, his beak pushed Sky's arse up. A sudden jump later, he managed to make Sky slide down his head and back.

"Woah, there, big fella!" Sky grabbed Haywire's thick neck. "What are you doing?"

His cybernetic friend emitted a loud and cheerful series of chirps, and then, it took off with a few powerful flaps of his wings.

A yelp of surprise forced its way out of Sky's throat. Flying on a phoenix's back? That had never crossed his mind.

"WOOHOO!" Sky smiled broadly as the wind rushed past his face while soaring on Haywire's back, feeling alive in a way he never had before.

The wheat fields below stretched out like a golden ocean, swaying gently in the evening breeze. His home city, a large beehive-looking dandelion in the distance, was a constellation of twinkling lights as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

As they flew over the bee hives, Sky could hear the hum of thousands of bees, and the sweet scent of honey filled his nostrils. The river bank sparkled like diamonds, and he could hear the soft murmur of the water as it flowed past.

They were approaching the sea, which glimmered like a sheet of black satin. Soon, they left the beach and the turquoise little waves on the sand behind. The Hovering Hive became smaller and smaller. He's smart. We're leaving civilisation behind. It's best if nobody sees us flying together.

Haywire's powerful wings beat rhythmically, sending them higher and higher, and Sky felt weightless and free. He could feel the muscles in Haywire's back working hard, and the warmth of his body against his legs.

The night sky was a canvas of deep blue, scattered with glimmering stars. He let out a joyous whoop as they swooped and soared over the largest ocean waves he had ever seen.

Water splashed on his body and face as Haywire started to corkscrew, earning a vivid and careless cry of joy from him. I've never felt so exhilarated and alive!

Soon, they reached some faraway land. High cliffs ran all along the coast.

Haywire flapped his wings even harder to fly over the cliffs and the green fields and the forest beyond.

As they soared through the night sky, Sky couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the world below them. The moonlight illuminated the trees and fields, casting long shadows across the landscape.

They flew for hours. Sky easily lost track of time.

For a moment, all worries were gone.

But all good things come to an end. Haywire took the initiative to fly back to the clearing. When it came in sight, he began to slow down and fly low.

"Thanks, big fella," Sky whispered as they touched down. "You really know how to cheer up a friend. That was amazing!"

Haywire snorted joyfully in response, and though he couldn't speak, Sky could feel his friend's contentment.

Sky lay down on the grass, staring up at the moon and the stars, while Haywire curled up next to him.

For a while, they just lay there in silence, until Sky finally spoke up.

"You know, Haywire, you're the only friend I have," he whispered with a warm smile.

Haywire let out a soft chirp, and Sky understood. His smile grew bigger and he closed his eyes, feeling at peace for the first time in a long while.

"What would I do without you?"

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Did you enjoy the flight? 😉 It was a scene I wanted to play out for so long now!
Anyway, will Sky find out who Endurance is, as well as the secrets behind Mrs Evergreen's business plan?

Stay tuned!

XOXO

Mar

*NOTE: PLEASE, READ THE A/N AT THE END OF CH.1 if you feel the need to know about the differences between this story and HTTYD. Thank you.