Woolf sat under a pine tree, his eyes closed as he rested. Everyone had split off once they reached the village, with Socks watching Dino and Meme watching Laff. Woolf had limped his way into the forest, as he had always liked the quiet rustle of leaves in the wind.

After the tiring walk— though it was more of a hop and hobble— he'd sat to rest. He was starting to drift off into sleep, but a sudden screech snapped him awake. His ears flicked up and he looked around, eyes wide. The screeching continued, and as Woolf's senses rushed back, he looked up, realizing the noise was coming from above him.

A ball of fire engulfed a screeching creature as it plummeted towards the ground. Woolf stared as it fell, and once it went beneath the canopy of trees, he stood and ran as best he could to go looking for it, wincing at the pain in his leg. 'Maybe it's a phoenix!' Woolf thought. The flaming bird was quite a rare sight, especially in a forest, as the bird usually stuck to heated deserts or high up mountains. However, it had come from the direction of the nearest mountain, so it was possible.

Eventually, the screeching cut off, but Woolf kept heading in the direction it'd come from. He giddily burst into a clearing, limping a little bit, but then froze. Woolf's breath caught in his throat and his ears flicked downward as fear creeped into his heart.

A very chard, black Nadwe lay in front of him, clearly passed out... Maybe even dead. His top hat hung from a nearby bramble bush, a small flame still eating away at it.

'No. No, no, no...' Woolf thought. After a moment, he found enough strength in his legs to move, and crouched to check the child's pulse. When he felt nothing, Woolf almost started to cry, but then remembered that vampires didn't have heart beats, as when the vampirism took over, their heart turned from a pump to a storage unit.

The child suddenly let out a groan, his fingers twitching slightly. 'He's alive!' Woolf thought. He gave a small smile in relief, but the little grin was quickly wiped off his face. 'He might not survive the burns! What do I do?! Oh, water might help! Shit, where's a lake?'

The only one Woolf knew of was the pool of water beneath the waterfall at the village. But with Woolf's broken leg, it would take forever to get there, especially if Woolf had to drag Nadwe.

"Doesn't matter. He needs help. He'll die if you don't at least try," Woolf whispered to himself.

He grabbed Nadwe's arms and started trying to pull him in the direction of the village. After about five minutes, Woolf'd barely made it to the next clearing, and that really wasn't very far.

Woolf kept tripping on tree roots, and every time he did, he'd drop Nadwe, the child hitting the floor with a 'Thud!' and a quiet groan rising from his throat.

"I'm sorry!" Woolf yelped for the fourth time, wincing. He bent down to grasp the child's arms once more, but a rustle sounded from a nearby bush. "Who's there?!" Wool called.

Blaza emerged from the foliage. "Don't worry, it's just me—" He cut off, staring at the chard Nadwe in Woolf's hands. He took a shaky breath. "I- is he..?"

"No, but he could be soon, if we don't get him help. We need to get him to the village lake," Woolf responded, a little panicky.

"Why?" Blaza asked, moving to help lift Nadwe.

"The water will help soothe the burns."

"Well, there's another pond this way. It's a lot closer," Blaza said, grabbing the child's legs.

He started moving to the left, and Woolf followed his lead. It didn't take more than five minutes before they reached the pond Blaza was talking about. It was beautiful, glistening in the sunlight. Woolf would have dove in if there wasn't such a dire situation at hand.

"Go find Meme," Woolf said, splashing water over Nadwe's burns. He was lucky they were on a shaded part of the lake, otherwise Nadwe would have caught fire again.

Blaza nodded and ran off, back into the forest. Woolf sighed quietly. 'Please don't die, Nad. It's terrible. Absolutely terrible. You don't deserve to go to that place.'

As if Woolf's thoughts had summoned his consciousness back, Nadwe jolted up, coughing. His nose scrunched up as he winced and he clenched his jaw, proceeding to flop back down into the water he was sitting in. His breathing was heavy, though after a couple of ticks it stopped, Nadwe probably remembering that he didn't need the air. He closed his eyes with an irritated look spread across his face.

"You're awake!" Woolf cheered, quickly but carefully leaning in to hug his friend.

Nadwe sat up once more, his eyes snapping open. He whipped around to face Woolf, then started crawling backwards, clicking his tongue as the pain rose up again. Fear shone in his eyes.

"... Nad? You okay?"

Nadwe blinked at Woolf, and then smoke curled in around him. Fear suddenly spiked in Woolf's mind, but after a moment he realized Nadwe was just shifting to his bat form. The smoke lifted, and there sat the child, his fur soaked.

Woolf reached forward to pick Nadwe up, but the child flinched when Woolf's hand got close to him. He shut his eyes tight, but leaned slightly towards the warmth of the furry's hands.

"May I?" Woolf whispered.

Nadwe thought for a moment, but then nodded his head. Woolf gently picked the little bat up, cradling him in his palms. Nadwe opened his eyes. They saddened as they stared up at Woolf.

"I should leave..." he whispered, a small sigh following after the words.

"What? No! Nadwe, what happened? Why'd you leave?" Woolf questioned, his voice soft.

Nadwe didn't respond, only staring at Woolf. The furry started petting Nadwe between his eyes, and the child let out another soft sigh, his eyelids drooping a bit.

"You can trust me. Remember? I stood up to Laff for you," Woolf said quietly.

"But you died because of it. Because of me. All I do is cause problems. I'm not safe to be around, anyways," he said, wings sagging.

He looked like he was going to cry. Then he did. Blood dripped down his face in place of tears, since his body no longer produced any other fluids. Woolf jumped at the sight, but relaxed after a moment.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm glad it was me and not you. And you're with me, now!" Woolf said, smiling.

Nadwe had cuddled into Woolf's palms, enjoying the pets, but now his eyes snapped open and he stared at Woolf.

"A- am I dead?" He looked around. "Is this the Palace? Sure is boring..."

Woolf was confused for a moment before he realized that Nadwe hadn't been there for the whole "Hi, I'm back from the dead!" explanation.

"No! Of course not!.. Uh, I guess I have a little bit of explaining to do..."

|—o–O–o—|

"... And so now we're here."

Nadwe stared into Woolf's eyes as the furry finished telling him about Nowhere and the wall-portal-thing, along with all the other stuff. "So, you're actually here, and I didn't hallucinate a conversation with Muffin before Dino shoved me off the cliff?"

Woolf nodded. "Yeah. I'm real. Muffin is back, too—" Woolf paused, fully registering Nadwe's words. He blinked before rage filled his eyes. "Dino, did what?"

Nadwe flinched again. "I- I really need to go..."

"No. We're going to find Dino and I'm going to beat the shi—" Woolf paused, then gave an angry sigh. "I'm going to beat the stuffing out of him."

"You can say shit. I'm not a baby," Nadwe mumbled.

Woolf stood, only to slip on the pebbles below him. He fell face first into the shallow water, a loud splash sounding. Woolf could hear Nadwe squeak as he collided with the ground.

"Shoot! I'm sorry!" he yelped.

Nadwe wriggled out from under him, staring at Woolf. A strange look glistened in his eyes.

"... Nadwe?"

The child suddenly turned, quickly flapping out of the water and up into the sky. He moved swiftly, though he was crooked, and disappeared into the forest. Woolf's eyes widened.

"Wait! Nadwe! No!" Woolf yelled.

But it was already too late. Nadwe had gotten away, and he wasn't going to come back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{CHAPTER NOTES}

Summary: Woolf sees something fiery fall from the mountain. He goes to see what it is and finds Nadwe. He and eventually Blaza drag the child over to a lake to help with the burns. Blaza had left to find Meme by the time Nadwe woke up. Nadwe and Woolf talked for a bit, eventually coming to the fact that Dino had tried to kill Nadwe. Woolf angrily decides they need to confront him, but Nadwe flies off instead, much to Woolf's dismay. (Word Count: 1419)

[NEW NOTE]: 'I had to split this one in two' EWWWWW. Past-Me, WHY? Anyways, I'm now realizing that between two chapters the views on the story had doubled at the time. That's terrifyingly delightful. Like, wow. Actually. I'm still grateful for that, even more so now that I've noticed. Thank you, guys. Even if it was a while ago, thank you.

(Old Note): YAY NEW CHAPTER! I actually had to split this one in two because it was so long. I haven't written this fast in months! Anyways, thanks for 2K reads! I'm really happy about it, and I couldn't have gotten here without you guys! Chapter Summary: Woolf- Woolf sees Nadwe fall from the cliff, then finds him. He and Blaza drag him to a lake and Nadwe then flies off a little while later. (Word Count: 1361)