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With Her Wings Spread

With Her Wings Spread

The orchestral sound of the plethora of Crews pounding their stone fists on the ivory wall can be heard. Pie's paws are furiously digging deeper into the sand. No matter how deep he goes, the wall stretches down to meet him. Through the pounding, Pie hears a difference in the pattern.

One hit sounds different from the others. It's stronger and out of beat. Pie barks, and the Crews stop. Only the sounds of the storm can be heard. Pie presses his ear to the wall. Silence falls, and he hears a pounding sound from the other side and feels the wall shake. Pie barks once more. The Crews pound on the ivory wall harder and faster than before.

Pie readies himself for whatever is on the other side. The wall starts to crack as they keep pressing on. Then the wall breaks and pushes up a cloud of dust and sand. Pie lowers his body, ready to pounce. Then he gets a whiff of a familiar scent. Lahar's scent. He becomes excited, and then he smells another. He smells the scent of the Beast that went in after her.

The Crews step back as Pie's growl grows louder and his flames scorch the sand. Lahar is walking slowly, bruised and bloodied but alive. She lowers her water gun once she sees them all. She places it in the holster. Scraping on the ground behind her is Statue's ivory mask, wrapped with steams of water. The water wraps around Lahar's belt.

It's heavier than it looks, and she struggles to pull it forward. She doesn't use her arms; they hang at her sides. Pie's flames go out as he runs up to Lahar, careful not to tackle her and worsen her injuries. She buries her body in his fur once he gets close. They are now both drenched in the rain, but neither pays it any mind.

Lahar looks up to see the Beasts lying on the ground all around the reef. Piles of sand are scattered about. She assumes they are Crew copies that didn't make it to the end. Crew walks up to her and examines her injuries. The four remaining copies of Crew pick up the mask for her and start to walk down the beach.

The original Crew taps Lahar's right arm. She feels a severe pain but refuses to scream. Crew grips her arm and wrist and slowly pulls down. Pain surges through Lahar, but she tries to remain silent. Then she hears a loud pop. She lets out a scream that leaves everyone's ears ringing.

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Sand wraps around her body and forms a sling for her arm. Crew helps Lahar onto Pie's back and then hops on himself. Pie bursts into his golden flames and sprints down the beach. Through the storm, he races to the house. Lahar notices she hasn't heard any thunder in a while. It also feels as if the rain is lightening up.

They find King waiting patiently for them on the porch. As soon as Pie stops, Lahar jumps off and races up the steps to King. "Did he make it?" she asks. A vision of the Crew copy holding the plant being mauled by a Beast or swept away in the storm flashes in her mind.

King nods his head yes.

That gesture fills her with relief. She runs inside yelling thank you as she passes. King takes notice of her. The bruises, dirt, and blood. The cold look in her eyes that wasn't there before she left and how warm it became when he said yes.

Lahar runs to Arena's doorway, out of breath. Arena lies in the bed, paler than before. She hears the sound of glass clanking from another room. She looks in the hallway to see the door to the greenhouse open. She runs to the room to find a copy of Crew standing still as a statue. Doc is working on a potion on the table.

Lahar sees the flower's petals on the table, with pieces chopped. "Great. You started on the potion already," she says, relieved.

Doc looks up to see the state Lahar's in. Clothes dirty with mud and blood, not to mention the injuries. Doc jumps down from the table and pulls out a chair. She then aggressively points to the chair.

"Don't worry about me right now. We need to get this ready for Arena," Lahar says, walking to the table, ready to assist in any way. Doc grabs Lahar's bandaged arm and pulls on it to lead her to her chair.

A soft pain surges through Lahar's arm. She turns to see her other arm in a sling. Doc's flame burns bright with anger as she points again to the chair, this time not taking no for an answer. Doc stands on a stool next to Lahar, who reluctantly sits on the chair.

A cloth flies from Doc's bag as the sand sling breaks. The grains fall to the ground as the cloth wraps around her arm and creates a sling. Doc hands her a potion to drink as she works on her cuts.

"Thank you," Lahar says to Doc softly. Doc continues to work on her. Lahar stares at the plant on the table. "This has to work," she thinks. She never likes putting everything on one chance, but she doesn't have any other choice. There is no other plan at this moment.

Lahar stands up and starts to look through Doc and Arena's notes. "I'm fine, Doc. It's time we continue with your work. Tell me what I can do."