Why They Call Them Strangers: Part Three

by Rykani

FrozenFish is out in the yard on her own, chasing her Floud around, who hovers just above the ground, then floats up in the air a bit. She giggles, and squeals softly at it, "Silly Windy... come back here! Oh, hey Dani." She sees Dani out of the corner of her eye, then grabs up Windy, looking at Dani.

"Hey kid... where's the others?" Dani asks, trying to look kind.

"Training school, Addey and Dai wanted to do more courses. I decided to stay here with Windy." FrozenFish shrugs.

"Oh, well, sounds fun... hey, wanna know what it feels like to fly?" Dani asks, looking up at the top of the cottage.

"Do I?? Sure!... How will you show me..?" FrozenFish asks, feeling kind of nervous. Having Dani be nice was a very rare event. "I'll pick you up silly goose, and fly you up onto the roof, then you jump, and I'll catch you. And Windy will help, I'm sure." Dani shudders inside, not believing she had just said 'silly goose'. Ugh, this had better be worth it.

FrozenFish looks to Windy for it's support, and it makes a soft squealing sound, that makes FrozenFish smile and nod, "Okay Dani, let's go." FrozenFish sets Windy down, who automatically floats a bit off the ground again. Dani takes FrozenFish up in her paws, and flaps up to the top of the cottage, which seems to be a tad higher than she thought. Perfect. She flies back down, and then looks up at the young cub, who stares down with huge eyes.

"Come on kiddo! It'll be fun!" Dani cheers up to FrozenFish, who nods, and leaps from the roof. Dani laughs and grabs Windy, holding it down, even though it struggles hard. FrozenFish screams, seeing that no one is going to catch her, and tries to land on her feet, but is too slow, and slams into the ground with a nasty crunch sound. Just at that moment, Addey flaps up, with Rykani and Daimaou in close pursuit.

"Fish! OH NO! Dani!? What happened!?!?" Ry sob-screams, taking the lifeless cub up into her arms.

"I got here, and she was on the roof, I begged her not to jump, but she did anyway... oh Ry, it was horrible..." Dani cries onto Windy, who pulls away from Dani, and smacks her over the head with it's tail. It makes some various mumbled sounds to Rykani, who then stares at Dani. Dani steps back a bit, breathing deeply.

"Dani... why..? Don't I give you enough attention..?" Ry shakes her head slowly, and looks to Daimaou, "Can you use Heal on her? It means you won't be able to fight any time soon... but I don't have any healing potions with me..."

Daimaou nods, glaring at Dani, who steps back again, then flaps up and away, flying hard and fast. Addey goes to fly after her, but Ry stops her, and shakes her head, "Let her go, maybe she'll rethink her actions next time..." As Ry speaks her last word, thunder crashes, and it starts to rain.

***

Dani, realizing she didn't plan a spot to meet Dismiss, flies in circles, then lands up in the place she first met him, and sees him leaning up against a tree, smiling to himself. Dani walks over to the Kougra, and stares at him, "Well????"

"Well what?" Dismiss asks, bouncing the ball slowly. He's dry, despite the rain. Must be because he's under such a thick tree.

"Do I get it or not!?" Dani screams, swiping at the ball, but Dismiss pulls it close to his body, shaking his head.

"For that, I shouldn't give it to you. But I will, you deserve it..." Dismiss mutters, handing the ball over.

"What about the key?" Dani asks, trying to calm herself down.

"Do one more thing, just ONE more thing, and you'll get it." Dismiss smiles, and digs his claws into the tree, then climbs up it, laying on a low branch, and looking down at Dani. "Do you have the ability called Fiery Gaze?"

"Yes." Dani says simply, wondering what she has to do now.

"Good. Use it on your family, and cut all their tails off. Then bring them to me." Dismiss smiles, and hangs his own tail down, "One tail is nice, but having five would be very interesting... yes I saw your owner has one too, strange thing she is."

Dani just nods quickly, kind of puzzled as to why any creature would want more tails, but whatever. She walks back to the cottage, and creeps in through the window to her room, placing the ball in her closet, shivering with anticipation. Soon, she would have all the power in the world.

"Come on you guys! Dinner!!" Rykani calls out. Dani realises how late it is, and that she had missed lunch... oh well. She walks down the hall, and into the kitchen, to the wonderful smells of cheeseburgers and hot-dogs. Addey, Daimaou and FrozenFish all stop their banter, and silently watch Dani get to her spot at the table. She says nothing to any of them, and they go back to their conversations of their day.

After dinner, the other pets go into the living room to watch some TV, but Rykani keeps Dani back, and talks to her more seriously than she had ever spoken to anyone, probably ever. "Dani, I don't know why you tricked Fish like that, didn't you think? And you should have known I'd find out sooner or later... or were you going to fight her AND Windy too?"

"I dunno ma'am..." Dani whispers, hanging her head. Thoughts of the pound begin to swirl in her head, but then memory of the faeries come rushing back to her, and she lifts her head, looking at Ry right in the eye, "I won't do it again, I promise."

Rykani sighs, and shakes her head, "We've all put up with a lot from you in the past few weeks, nothing but abuse. I thought being kind to you would fix things, I thought buying you gifts as much as I could would help... I thought training you as much as I could would help... I REALLY thought bringing you here would fix things a bit, you love to fight, and the training centre is here. Dani, if you pull anything even near what you did today, I'm going to send you away to live with a friend of mine. Since I don't want you in the pound... My friend will take care of you, yes, but it won't be like I do. She's very poor, and has a temper, about a million times worse than you ever could. I'm sure if I gave her some money, she'd be more kind to you than the others. Are we understood?"

Dani just stares at Rykani. In the time she'd known her, she always seem to kid around about things, and never be serious. She can tell this is for real now. But the faeries are just too good to pass up... anyway, even if she does give her away, she could just use all the faeries and their powers, and run away while the trading of her happened at the pound. She knew all about that. Dani nods slowly, and walks off to the living room, sitting on the floor by the other three, who edge away from her a little bit.

Rykani sighs to herself, and glances in at all her pets. "I'm going out for a bit you guys, there's an emergency meeting of Youth Haven, and I need to go there. Addey, you're in charge, okay hon?" Addey just nods slowly, getting absorbed in the plot of a movie about ghosts and stuff. Rykani laughs slightly, glad that the chaos level was going to be a little lesser tonight. Hopefully what she told Dani would sink in...

***

Shortly after Rykani leaves, Dani gets up, and turns off the TV, much to the complaint of the others. "Oh hush, wanna see something more neat?"

The other three share a glance, then look at Dani, and shrug.

"Okay, look into my eyes..." she whispers softly, then uses her fiery gaze, making them all fall frozen and unconscious to the floor. She smiles, and runs off to her room, getting a big pair of scissors. She walks back to the other pets, and wonders which to take first. She takes Daimaou's big fluffy tail into her paw, and preps to cut it off, when the door opens, and Ry is standing there.

"Sorry guys, I forgot my umb-- Dani, what are you doing!?" Ry shrieks, her eyes going huge.

Dani gasps, and slips, cutting into Daimaou's tail deep, making Daimaou scream and jump to her feet. The scream awakens the other two, who look at Daimaou's poor bloody tail. They quickly both use Heal on her, before it gets worse. Dani's eyes get wide, and she flies quickly out the open door, before anyone can grab her.

To be continued...