“Ivy! Watch out!” Vallory yelled as she tackled me, protecting me from the stream of fire blown from the girl’s mouth.

“Looks like you all want to fight then.” She sighed, “Annabelle, why don’t you take care of those two? I’ll have a really fun time with my meal.”

The bunny girl gave a chaotic smile and ran toward Victor and Ash.

“This is none of your concern!” Vallory shouted while swinging her sword.

“Oh, Val! But it is! Master’s orders, you know about those, right?” She deflected Vallory’s sword with her wing, “Why don’t you be a good soldier like you always are and fight the kitty for me?”

I sat on the grass, clutching my cheek as the two fought. I felt so utterly useless just sitting and watching them fight. I had to do something, “Stop hurting her!” I yelled while pouncing at the dragon girl.

As I pounced, she slapped me out of the air with her wing. As she slapped me I heard a loud crack, “Please don’t hurt!” I thought to myself as I laid on the wet grass. As I opened my eyes, the dragon girl was staring back at me with a horrified look, “Are you okay?” I asked while rubbing my back.

“W-What are you?” I noticed her wing was deformed into a painful-looking position.

“I-I’m sorry!” I stood to my feet, “I didn’t mean to hurt you that bad.” I slowly approached her.

She quickly stepped back and yelled, “Get away from me!” She groaned in pain as she moved her wing, “Annabelle! Get away from them! Aura sent us here to die!”

“I just want to help you. Now c’mere, let me see.” I insisted.

Flames escaped her mouth, but I was able to jump out of the way, “Yeah, Zoe, these ones are pretty tough.” She tried to catch her breath. She noticed Zoe’s broken wing and her eyes grew wide, “That kitty did that to you.” She smirked while kicking me in the back knocking me to my face.

“Ouch! Stop it!” I rolled to my back and watched as the bunny girl approached closer with her hammer.

“She doesn’t seem that tough. Are you sure it wasn’t Val?”

“It was Ivy who did that to your master. Leave her alone now!” Val panted.

“Don’t do it!” Zoe yelled, “Get away from that freak right now!”

Annabelle didn’t listen and dropped her hammer on me. I covered my eyes and felt the vibration run through my entire body. I started to cry and felt a warm kiss on my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw Victor kneeling beside me. I blushed and felt a chill run from my neck all the way down to my tail, “Did you just-”

“I believe our battle hasn’t come to a climax yet.” Victor gave a proud smile.

“Hmph, so be it. It’s not every day I get to fight with a bunny boy, or even a boy for that matter. When Zoe and I set eyes on you, we wanted to keep you. So how about that, if I win, we get to keep you, and if you win then… I guess you win.”

“Annabelle, you moron! We have to go now!” Zoe shouted in fear.

“Oh, shut up! I’m tired of you always bossing me around. And right now, it doesn’t look like you’re in the position to do that.”

“I’m begging you right now, okay?” Tears started to form around her red eyes.

“Let me have my fun!” Annabelle slammed her hammer down as Victor narrowly rolled out of the way.

“I can’t watch!” I covered my eyes.

I felt a gentle pat on my shoulder, “It’s okay, Ivy. You should’ve seen him when the trees were attacking us. He’s an absolute unit!” I heard the gentle, happy voice of Ash as he sat down next to me while wagging his tail.

“He is?” I lowered my hands.

“Absolutely! He moves just like a bunny, and he’s smart with his attacks too. Annabelle always just swings her hammer recklessly. That’s why I never liked fighting with her.” He leaned his head on my shoulder.

I felt Vallory sit down next to me along with Zoe, “So, I take it you all know each other.” I nervously laughed.

“Mmhmm.” Vallory replied, “We were part of the same unit until we had to split up.”

The sun started to set as we watched the two fight.

“I’d like to apologize.” Zoe started, “It seems like the boss wanted us to die. I had no idea how strong you were, Ivy, was it?”

“Mhm! It’s okay, I’ve had worse experiences.” I felt the ground under me rumble as Annabelle swung her hammer again.

“Well, you’re very forgiving after seeing we had just tried to kill you. I’m sorry I burnt your hair.”

My heart skipped a beat and I quickly ran my fingers through my hair, feeling the ends had melted and burned together, “It’s okay…” I held back tears, “I’ve been meaning to get it cut anyway. It’s been getting in my face too much recently.”

“I know you’re upset about it. I’d probably kill someone who did that to my hair.”

“No, no, really, it’s okay. I’m sorry about your wing. I didn’t mean to break it.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She moaned in pain as she flapped her wings, “I kinda deserved it.”

“No one deserves to be in pain.” I scooted myself next to Zoe, “Now let me help you, okay?”

“T-There’s nothing you can do.” She held her arm up in fear, “It just needs time, okay?”

I lunged at her and wrapped my arms around her waist, “A hug will help!” I said while nuzzling my face into her.

“What do you think you’re doing!” she blushed, “I don’t do hugs!”

“Awe, come on. Just wrap your arms around me. I promise it’ll make you feel better!”

She agreed and stubbornly wrapped her arms around me. I felt her body quivering as we hugged. After a minute, I felt her body relax and her arms around me grow tighter.

“Feel better?” I looked at her face.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Surprisingly, yes. I feel a lot better.” She straightened and flapped her wings happily, “In fact, I don’t feel any pain at all. How’d you do that?”

“Well, I don’t really know exactly. I just noticed that when I cuddled with Victor, all the scratches on his face disappeared so maybe it would work for everyone!”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Vallory said with disappointment, “That’s so cool! I thought the only way to heal people was with pink flowers!”

“Well, I didn’t pay it much mind when it happened. I was just happy to see his pretty face in the morning really.”

“And you’re super strong too! I didn’t know healers could be strong!”

“Oh, am I? I didn’t realize that.”

“You’re very strong.” Zoe said while stroking her fingers through my burnt hair, “I’ve never broken a bone and I rarely bleed.”

“Really? I guess I am pretty strong!” I proudly said.

“If you want…” Zoe shyly started, “I could give you a haircut. It would be the least I could do for the generosity you’ve shown me today.”

My ears perked up and I started to wave my tail, “Really?! That would be a-meow-zing!”

Zoe’s face blushed even brighter. She gently pushed me off of her and tried to regain her composure, “What the heck was that?!”

“Cute, right?” Vallory smirked.

“Not even a little! That’s the weirdest thing I’ve heard a girl say.” She crossed her arms and stood up, continuing to watch the fight.

After the two fought for a few minutes, they wore each other out and collapsed on the cold, soggy, evening grass. We all sighed.

“How about we set up camp here?” Vallory asked.

“Sure, sounds like a plan!” Ash started to unpack his bag.

“I guess, if you don’t mind, Ivy. Maybe we could sleep here too?”

“That would be great! You’re welcome to sleep with us!” I happily replied.

We all helped set up camp, start a fire, and relieve Victor and Annabelle from their exhaustion.

“We’re not finished!” Annabelle panted.

“You’re in no condition to fight, sweetie. You worked yourself too hard. You have to rest and then you can challenge him to a rematch, okay, dear?” She said while petting her head.

“You know you lost!” Victor gasped for air, “You didn’t land a single hit on me!”

“One hit is all I needed to crush your puny body.”

“Calm down both of you! I don’t want to hear another word from you two for the rest of the night. You’re giving me a headache.” Zoe snapped.

They stopped arguing. Then I came up with an idea, “I know! Zoe, you can be our leader!”

“What?!” Vallory spat out her tea, “Why would you make her leader?!”

“Thank you so much, Ivy.” Zoe smirked at Vallory, “You seem to have settled a little debate Val and I had for the longest time.”

“Oh? You two had a fight?”

“More like a disagreement. I wanted to be leader, but she wanted to be leader. So, we went our separate ways, making our own little parties. But now look Val! I am the better choice for leader, confirmed by the queen of the forest!”

“Wipe that proud smile off of your face. Ivy still outranks you and whatever she says goes.”

“B-But I don’t want to be leader. I don’t know anything about this forest. I offered you to be leader, Val but you refused.”

“Can you at least sleep on it, Ivy? I don’t want you to make a bad choice.”

“Fine.” I yawned, “Let’s sleep then, then in the morning we can figure out what to do, okay?”

“Sounds good to me!” Ash said happily, “I’m done setting up the tents. Now, how are we gonna all fit?”

“Hm.” I thought, “Well, how about all four of us cuddle together and then Zoe and Annabelle can cuddle together.”

Zoe turned bright red again, “Why’d you have to say it like that, weirdo?!”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Annabelle got to her feet and lifted her hammer over her shoulder, “Wait, why are we friends with them again?”

“I’ll tell you in the tent.” Zoe sighed as they both entered their tent.

I stood up and dusted myself off, “Okay, who wants to sleep next to who?”

“How about boys on the sides and girls in the center? Then it’s not too awkward right?” Val asked.

“Yeah, I’d be comfy with that.” I replied as we all took our positions.

Victor and Ash instantly fell asleep while Vallory and I started to brush each other's hair for bed like we always did. Vallory tried to be gentle as she brushed out my burnt ends. Tears formed in my eyes and I let out soft “ouchies” as I felt each hair being ripped out.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, “I just want you to be comfy tonight, I know your hair’s gonna be all crunchy and that’s not very comfy to sleep on.”

“Can you just cut it?” I begged.

“I don’t have any scissors, I’m sorry.”

“Just use your sword.”

“I think that’s a bad idea.”

“Fine.” I sighed and turned around, “I’ll just wait for Zoe to cut it tomorrow.”

“Okay, cutie.” She wiped away my tears, “I’m so proud of you after today.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes! You’re absolutely a-meow-zing! You became a queen, you saved the Flowers, you convinced Zoe not to kill us! Trust me, I couldn’t imagine doing what you did in my entire lifetime let alone a day.”

“Oh, I guess I’m pretty paw-some then!” I held my fist up to my face like a cat paw.

“And you’re adorable!” She blushed while giving me a bear hug, “I’m so proud of you, cutie!”

“Well, I guess we don’t have much left to do now.” I smiled, “Unless, there’s any other surprises I should know about.”

“Hm.” She thought for a minute, “I don’t think so. If there are, I wouldn’t know about them really.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” I brushed my hair back with my fingers.

Vallory grabbed my hand, “What’s this?” She pointed to two puncture marks in my hand, “Was this from Zoe? Do you need me to hurt her back?”

“No, no. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” I promptly replied.

“It sure doesn’t seem like nothing.” She gasped, “Did you get bitten by a vampire?!”

“No! Don’t vampires bite your neck anyway?”

“Then tell me the truth, what happened?” She said in a serious tone.

My ears fell flat to my head and my tail went limp, “Well, I was upset yesterday night when we had our fight. I didn’t know how else to make the sadness go away, so I just bit myself until I fell asleep. That’s all.”

A tear rolled down her cheek, “I really hurt you that bad, huh?”

“I might’ve been overreacting a little. don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

“Oh, it’s totally my fault. I shouldn’t have been so heartless. Now I want to cry after seeing what I really did to you.”

“I forgive you! Okay?” I wrapped my arms around her, “Don’t you dare think this was all your fault! I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. I just have a hard time controlling myself sometimes and I can calm myself by biting my hands.”

“Please don’t do that anymore, sugar. I can’t live knowing you hurt yourself like that.”

“It’s not like I usually bleed… I’m not usually that upset.”

She pressed her finger against my lips, “I don’t care if you bleed or not. I just don’t want you hurt.”

I laid my head down on my pillow. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it affected you like that.”

“Yeah, well, what can I say? I really care about you even if I get a little grumpy with you sometimes.”

“That’s good to know.” I smiled staring at the moonlight shining on the ceiling of the tent, “You’re the most amazing person I know!”

“Even more amazing than him?” She pointed at Victor who started to snuggle my shoulder in his sleep.

“Okay, you’re the most amazing girl I know.” I giggled and yawned, “I hope tomorrow isn’t as stressful as this whole journey’s been.”

“Me too. I just want to rest for a few months.” She smiled, “I feel like I’ve taken enough stress for the whole year.” She lay down next to me, staring at me with her pretty, green eyes, “I love you so much. I just think you should know that, okay?”

My eyes widened and I blushed, “I love you too! I’ll always love you no matter what happens.”

“You promise?” She held my hand.

“I promise. I came all this way just to be with you again, I’m not gonna let anything take me away from you.”

“You’re so sweet. I promise that I’ll always love you too.” Her fingers intertwined with mine, “I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”