The next few days were a very blurry mix of memories.

He just remembers running and running and running-

Joel didn't stop for anything. He couldn't stop, he couldn't. He had to get to Dogwarts, he had to get help, he had to get revenge on the Sandlands-

The constant running combined with pretty much eating and drinking nothing and not sleeping at all is what lead to him collapsing and everything going dark.

The next time he was conscious, he woken up by the sound of a dog whining.

Joel was in a very different place from where he had collapsed. The dog hybrid appeared to be lying in a bed of some sort, based on how soft the surface he was lying on was, but he couldn't really bring himself to open his eyes, so he just lay there, listening.

The voice of another person shushed the dog quickly, and Joel let out a confused mumble.

It felt like a knife had been driven through his head (obviously it hadn't, but he had a bad headache, was his point), and even though he was starving and incredibly thirsty, he felt as if he would throw up if he ate anything.

The person who had shushed the dog let out a startled yelp as the dog hybrid let out another unintelligible mumble, muttering something about him finally being awake. Joel could only tell that the person had begun leaning over him- presumably to check if he was awake- because of their breath on his face.

And the fact that they were very warm. They reminded him somewhat of Nicole- she was always slightly warm, although she got much more so when she was mad- it was a Blazeborn thing, Joel guessed-

He winced slightly at the thought of the blacksmith. Nope, not thinking about that right now- she's dead, no point in- Joel bit back a sob at the memory of anyone from his village, focusing entirely on the person leaning over him.

The stranger tapped his forehead lightly, humming under their breath. "Hellooo? Anyone in there?" They muttered, and Joel could practically hear them frowning in confusion.

Joel attempted to raise a hand to push the Blazeborn (presumably) away, but all he managed to do was let out a muffled shriek of protest- a noise he didn't even know he could make. The other person recoiled immediately. "Okay, you are- definitely awake then. Maybe." They said after a thoughtful pause. "Could you... try opening your eyes then?" The stranger added hesitantly. "It'll be much more awkward trying to get you to eat if you're awake. So I kinda need to know-"

After struggling to open his eyes for a moment with the minimal amount of energy he had, his eyelids fluttered open to see that the stranger had begun leaning over him again, studying him with an intrigued expression.

The man did appear to be a Blazeborn with his red eyes and dusky scarlet sclerae. He had bright yellow, spiky hair that looked somewhat flame-like, and he had pale freckles scattered all over his face that were only noticeable if you were as close as Joel was. He had a dark gray shawl draped over his shoulders that covered most of his white blouse and left the amber necklace he was wearing barely visible.

The Blazeborn recoiled again with a startled shriek, landing on the floor next to what appeared to be the dog who's whining woke Joel up. The red-eyed man muttered something to the dog- something along the lines of 'Don't worry Kaia, I'm fine'- before getting up and glancing back at Joel. "Sorry about that- you scared me a little bit." The stranger added with a laugh.

Joel glanced around with a disgruntled expression before his gaze flicked back to the blonde (yellow-haired?) man. "Who are you?" He managed to croak, his eyes narrowing.

"Ah, right, you're probably pretty confused- my name is Tango, we're in Ardere right now. In the Swamplands. I live- out of the way of everyone else, so you can imagine that it was a bit of a surprise when me and Kaia found you just- passed out not too far away from the Swamplands border." Tango added with a laugh. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Uh- Joel." He mumbled, still confused as to why he hadn't been left in the forest (surely it would take like- double the resources to look after a whole other people) but also grateful that this random stranger had taken pity on him for some reason. Tango nodded.

"Joel, okay, nice name. Do you- think you'd be able to eat something? Or drink something?"

Joel barely managed to shrug. "I don't know." Tango frowned slightly, his expression becoming slightly concerned.

"Are you okay if I like- sit you up? So you don't choke if you do want to eat or drink something?" When Joel nodded, the Blazeborn hesitantly lifted Joel's head up, putting another pillow under his head and pulling him up slightly so that when he lay back again, he was sat up. "You wait here then." Tango paused, grinning sheepishly. "Oh, you- kinda have to, never mind, ignore me- I'll go get you something to eat and drink." The red eyed man added hastily.

Joel nodded again, watching as Tango left. Kaia (the dog hybrid was pretty sure that was the name of the dog, if he had heard correctly) lingered by the foot of the bed for a moment before jumping up. The brunette let out a surprised murmur as the dog lay down on top of him, leaning forwards and sniffing his face.

Joel pushed Kaia out of his face with a slight frown. After a moment of feeling bad, he straightened slightly and reached out (he felt a bit more energetic now that he was at least somewhat awake) to pet the dog, who seemed very happy about this.

Despite himself and everything that had happened, Joel smiled.

*points* Tangerine Technology

Yeah Tango just found Joel passed out in the woods and was like ??? But also brought him home because Tango's cool 👍

So Joel didn't die alone in a forest yay

Comments and votes are appreciated <3 :]

Sorry for any errors :D I don't proofread and I speedran this chapter lol so-