Indoraptors

                                    

                                          
||𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏6𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎||
It felt like a part of me had died again.
	Lying limp beneath a sea of silver stars, I melted into the embrace of my tail, letting cold speckled tears spill down my ivory face. Each breath, hiccup, and whimper pushed these sorrows into the dirt below, and with it a wealth of whatever courage I once held onto. Nature watched from a distance, too distant to caress the gentle raptor broken by fate, and too quiet to turn my attention to something more promising. What writhed from within burned like a living flame, and I couldn't fight it.
	Because the guilt weighed more than the anguish.
Nobody would have seen a bond brewing between two vengeful hybrids. Their differences were too great to discern. Their beliefs barely matched. But, somehow, it worked. Somehow, two points on two maps drawn to a spectrum too great to measure connected, equal and opposite.
Like magnets; they were meant to be together. But they didn't know why.
For however long I was away from Click I didn't feel alone. I wasn't treated like a tool, or a weapon; I was a part of something greater. The world opened up just for the two of us -- me and him. We could do anything. We could be anything.
	And, in a blink of an eye, it had closed yet again.
	Mind nor body knew where to go or what to do after Blink was killed. I fled adjacent to the highway, trailing a forgotten path within the quiet town of Chico, California, leading to the Mendocino National Forest several miles out. The shock of the earlier incident drugged whatever thoughts transpired hereafter, but, eventually, that all faded away. Reality struck, fast. And once the pain became too great to bear, I took refuge on a false field of grass, collapsing onto my side.
	And broke into tears.
	This was a quiet place to be alone. To think for a minute. To feel the world spin outside of control, and watch the heavens twinkle in mockery.
	To quit. And, now more than ever, I had a strong need to stop trying. 
I sniveled quietly. The air tasted rotten tonight. Not like the sweet, churning dunes I once surrendered to when I was with Click; this was nothing like the desert. There, I felt confident. I had meaning with my friend, and I was happy above all else.
Now all that became a dream. My injuries were fighting me. My head wasn't in the right place, and neither was my heart. I was crying my eyes out -- surely the humans will hear me. And I wished the world away for a pathetic miracle, knowing none would ever come.
	Something else did.
	I caught his stench long before those two bright yellow eyes pierced through the haze of a midnight mist. I didn't care for who -- or what -- it was; instinct took control, turning the sad, noble white indoraptor I once was into a defensive, malicious female out for vengeance. My tail lashed about, jaws parting to unveil every tooth and fang rounding my pointed snout, and heart pounding of precious adrenaline.
But this is not what Ripper saw. The obsidian indoraptor in the fog went still, studying my golden features for a good long minute. He could smell the dried tears crusting on my scales, the hesitation in every twitch of my two talons, even that newfound adrenaline pulsing in my veins seemed more forceful than natural. Snorting once, Ripper took a bold step forward, so I envied a snarl; it didn't faze him as much. Ripper simply paused again, drawing in a mournful breath of understanding. 
	And took a second brave step forth.
I growled again, quills rattling in warning. The tension was already growing between us; it was far too dangerous to tamper with. We were injured enough, too. But, while history urged me to seek the nightmare that he is (and will be if I gave in), all Ripper wanted was help... and to help, of course. I was his kin after all. And the scent I produced was no different than the musk he emitted. So, without a fight to show (or any good reason to do so), Ripper lowered his tail to the ground and bowed his head submissively.