Okay, funny story. This and chapter 12 were originally one huge chapter, but that would have been ~5,000 words. XP Also, the questions you all gave me earlier this week will show up in this chapter. Excitement! :D But why on Ruxomar would Jordan be answering random questions??? Let's find out.

*Jordan's POV*

The trail wound aimlessly through the understory for more than a mile. As I approached the heart of the jungle, I started to see monsters more and more frequently. I had to alternate between lighting the path beneath me and sniping with my Bow of Balance. I didn't want the others to get snuck up on by a creeper or armored zombie. The others caught up to me as I was dealing with a group of skeletons. As I turned to yell at them to watch out, one of the skeletons got off a lucky shot, the arrow hitting my right wing with a sickening crack. I yelled as I plummeted into the understory. My cry was cut short as I hit the ground.

"Jordan!" Sonja yelled. I could hear them pushing towards me through the plants, but I was still getting my breath back. The fall had knocked the air from my lungs. I seemed to be okay, aside from the stabbing pain in my wing. I didn't realize how much it could hurt for something that wasn't really a part of me. I glanced over my shoulder to see blood dripping steadily from the wound. Maybe these wings are more real than I thought.

They reached me as I found my voice. "I'm okay." I croaked as I stood up.

"Like hell you are," Tom said angrily, forcibly turning me around to inspect my wing. Tucker tossed a few red lights around the area and Sonja checked me over for other injuries. I let out an involuntary hiss of pain as Tom tried to extend my right wing.

"Here, let me work on him. Alyssa was always getting herself scraped up. Can the rest of you take care of those blasted skeletons?" Mot shooed them away to finish off the monsters I had been fighting. "Alright, Jordan, I'm going to check to see what hurts."

I nodded my head. I could feel him start putting pressure on the bones of my right wing, starting at the joint to my shoulder, working down the limb. "The elbow seems fine," he commented as he worked. When he pressed on the wrist joint, I couldn't help but release a cry at the sudden sharp pain. "Okay, we found the problem. The bone's broken right after the joint here, where the arrow hit. I'm going to have to clean and splint it, and that's going to hurt."

"Couldn't I just take the angel ring off and put it back on?" I asked, not wanting to imagine him manipulating the painful break. I turned slightly to see his mottled face.

He shook his head at me. "That's not how it works, kid. It would still be broken. If it doesn't heal properly, you'll never be able to fly with an angel ring again."

"I'd suggest you take this, Boyo." Dianite said as a small potion bottle materialized on the ground by my foot.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked as I picked up the bottle of dark liquid.

"Just drink it." Mot said, rolling his eyes.

I sighed and drank the mystery potion, trying not to think about how horrible it tasted. The next thing I was aware of, I was sitting propped up against a tree on the edge of a clearing. My right wing felt a lot heavier than my left, but it didn't hurt. Must be some lingering effect of that potion, I thought to myself as I looked over my shoulder to see my wing splinted and bandaged—though some blood was seeping through—and another bandage wrapped around my bare chest to hold the stabilized limb in place. Where my chestplate, jacket, and shirt had gone, I had no idea. I could see the others gathered around something lying on the ground near a pile of logs in the clearing.

I started to push myself up, when Dianite said, Not so fast, Glitter Lap. You won't be able to walk just yet. Give it a few more minutes.

I leaned back against my tree and asked, What was in that potion? I didn't feel any pain, or anxiety for that matter. I should be worried that they'd found Wag's body without me, or worse, but I wasn't. I just felt a little off.

Something that does its job very well but tends to be addictive. So you'll understand if I don't tell you what it is. You were only out for 20 minutes, by the way, Dianite informed me before saying out loud, "He's awake." The others looked up from whatever they had been inspecting; I smiled and waved at them.

"How are you feeling, Jordan?" Sonja asked.

"Aside from Dianite almost turning me into a drug addict, I feel great." Tom snickered a little at that. The others seemed relieved to see I was awake and in good spirits, even if it was drug-induced. "Find anything while I was out?"

Their faces fell a little at my question, and Mot held up a familiar spell book. "Well, at least we know he was here," I stated the obvious.

I think they already expected me to be out of it, because no one snapped at me for my lack of concern. "He would never leave his spell book behind willingly, but that may explain why he hasn't made it back to his tower yet. He doesn't have his teleport spell," Tucker pointed out.

"And he'd still be on foot," Sonja added.

"Then why hasn't he called in on his communicator?" Mot asked.

"Maybe he lost it, or it was damaged when he crashed," Tucker suggested.

"And why can't Doughnut pick up his trail?!" It seems Tom was more than making up for my lack of worry at the moment. Something about the way he was pulling on his tangled mess of blue hair in frustration struck me as funny, and—not worrying about consequences—I laughed.

This time they looked at me like I was totally nuts; their expressions made me laugh even more. Mot sighed. "Maybe you gave him a little too much, Dia."

"Maybe," Dianite conceded. "And he is sleep deprived... We should probably get him home. Waglington might have turned up at Tom's place by now if he was still able to travel. The rest of you won't be much better off then Twinkle Thighs if you don't get some sleep soon."

My fit of laughter died down as they came to an agreement. We'd head back home and resume the search once everyone had rested, and we'd call in reinforcements. How are they going to get me home, I wonder? I can't fly. As they continued talking, I looked around the clearing and spotted an owl sitting on a tree branch. It was smaller than the owls that had been bothering Ianite that one time, and I'd never seen one with that striped chest pattern before. It seemed to be watching us. I glanced at the others, then looked back to find the creature had vanished. I think I might be hallucinating.

They finally settled on the guys taking turns carrying me. They'd switch off whenever one of them got tired. I thought the whole thing was hilarious, but they kept complaining about how much I weighed. About halfway back Sonja distracted them from their complaining with an idea. "Hey, Sparklez..." she asked in a suspicious tone.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

"Your anxiety and reservations are still caput, right?"

"Yep. Think so."

Sonja grinned evilly before asking, "What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

"Stole something valuable as a prank and then died in lava before I could hide it. And then I blamed Tucker." Thankfully, Mot was carrying me on his back at the time. I think Tucker or Tom would have dropped me.

"That was you?!" Tucker shouted. "Tom hunted me for a week because of that!" Tom looked a little mad too, until he started laughing at Tucker's saltiness.

Surprisingly, Mot asked the next question. "Who's Jerry?"

He must have seen the sign on Jerry's tree 2.0 back in Mianite, I thought.

"He was my pet slime and my best and only friend when I lived alone before going to Mianite. He died though," I replied. Hmm. I think my sadness might be short circuited too. I can kinda see why Dianite said this stuff is addictive.

Tom asked the next question. "If Jerry could have been a person instead of a slime, would you have wanted him to be?" (question courtesy of Ila_di_Angelo )

"Yeah. He was my best friend. He wouldn't have died so easily if he were human."

"Wait, who said Jerry was a boy? How do you even tell gender on a slime?" Tucker asked. We all shrugged. "So Jerry could have been a girl slime for all you know," he concluded.

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, if you had female, human Jerry around at the same time as Capsize, who would you have dated?" Tom asked cautiously, trying to wrap his mind around where this conversation had gone. (question courtesy of RGaming )

I had to think about that one. "I guess I would have had to get to know the human Jerry to know for sure. She would already have known all of my quirks and annoying habits from our time living in the jungle. If she were still interested in me after all that, I probably would have at least given it a chance."

Tucker had by now come up with a question to ask as well, and he looked smug about it. He whispered something to Sonja, who was flying next to him. She grinned and nodded before he asked, "Would you have married Ianite or Capsize, given the chance?" (question courtesy of Pro_Gamergirl )

"Definitely Capsize. I'd been planning to propose before she was killed."

"I knew it!" Tucker said triumphantly. Sonja pouted quietly and slowed down so she wasn't flying next to Tucker anymore.

"Why do you prank Tom so much?" Mot asked. (question courtesy of DarkStorm007 )

"I guess because of his reactions. I know what to expect from Sonja and Tucker when I prank them. With Tom, it's a mixed bag. Is he going to go on a killing spree, prank me back, steal my gear, or laugh his head off and say 'good one'? He keeps things interesting."

Tom was beaming a little as I finished. "Aw, I love you too, Sparklez," he said in a fake sweet voice.

Sonja perked up and asked another question. "Got a crush on anyone right now?"

I answered without hesitation. "Nope, when I'm not drugged I'm too afraid to love someone again after Capsize. 'Everything I love burns'." I chuckled a little at the saying the Dianitees in our old world had come up with. Surprisingly accurate. If I ever do see Capsize again, I'm telling her I love her. I lost the chance once; I'm not losing it again. (answer to the question from rain-cant-stop-me ) The others fell into an awkward silence following my admission.

After a few minutes of flying in silence, Mot started to lag behind the others. Tom noticed and slowed down until we caught up to him. "Ok, Mot, my turn. Hand over the Sparkleyd*ck."

"Sure thing. It's about time I checked his bandage anyways," Mot said as I carefully shifted from Mot's back to Tom's, trying not to interfere with either's ability to fly. Once free, Mot flew back behind me to check on my broken wing. "Crap." I heard him say quietly from behind me.

"Well, that doesn't sound good," I commented, trying to look over my shoulder without strangling Tom.

"What's going on back there?" Tom asked.

Mot sighed. "I'll to have to re-bandage his wing when we get back. It's still bleeding, and it's soaked through the bandage."

"Well then, let's get going," Tom said with determination.

As we flew to catch up with the others, Mot pulled ahead. Once he was out of earshot, Tom whispered, "Yo, Jordan?"

"Yeah, Tom?" I replied, keeping my voice down as well, curious what was up. He rarely used my real name. He tended to use one of his nicknames for me instead.

"How you hanging in there? Not with your wing, but with everything." He seemed a little nervous to ask.

"You mean the nightmares? Could be better. I've had them every night since Ianite discorporated. Oh, and I'm less sane than Sonja now," I said with a grin.

Being carried on Tom's back, I couldn't see his face, but I could see his jaw tighten before he spoke again. "I know once the stuff Dianite gave you wears off, you'll probably hate us for asking you all this, but you do know we're here for you, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

Silence stretched again as we caught up to the others. Sonja and Tucker were talking about a new dish at Sonja's restaurant. I half listened, until a gust of wind made me shiver. "You okay there?" Tom asked over his shoulder.

"Just a l-little cold. My hair and shorts never dried out," I answered.

The others exchanged concerned looks before Sonja said, "I'll make you some nice hot tea when we get back and warm you up in no time."

Thankfully we could see the light from Tom's house coming into view shortly after. The eastern horizon was starting to lighten as we drew close enough to make out individual buildings.

Dianite interrupted the silence with a word of caution. "There's someone waiting at your base I don't recognize, Syndy. And she could sense I was there." He sounded unnerved, if that was possible. "She said she means no harm, but keep your guard up. I get the feeling she's more dangerous than she looks."

O.o Who could unnerve Dianite?

Also, why does that owl sound familiar? Hmm...