Work Text:
Sera was born a girl cursed to crawl from youth to adulthood, for her legs were never made to carry her. She had little to her name; clothes, paper, pencils, only the smaller things that she could afford.
There were however, two things she held very dear; one was her white pet moth-cat hybrid who was barely the size of her head. His name was Carnold; or atleast, that's the name he responded to. Carnold was more like an older sibling to Sera than a pet, for he was the only one who would care for her. Since she could not tend to it herself, he would bring her food and water; and occasionally small items he found along the way.
Sera longed to be a creature like him, free to go wherever, gifted by the wings sprouting from their back that allowed them to fly up into the sky and stare at the beautiful sight below. She could only imagine.
To make up for what she lacked, and to remember every little detail about the open world she knew, she would write endlessly with her typewriter decorated with extravagant flowers. It seemed to be the only thing that was left for her when she was thrown into the streets so long ago, and she used it vigorously; using it to explore the world through her own writing the best she could.
She often got so caught up in her writing that she barely noticed when Carnold came over and dropped off food and water for her; and simply let him drag her over under a tree for shelter from the unrelenting weather. But she did notice one day, when he didn't.
She'd just finished a story when she glanced around, looking for her best friend to find that it was long past when he usually came back.
She called his name, waited a moment, and then called again. She yelled for him repeatedly until the villagers told her to keep quiet; she told them Carnold was missing, but they didn't seem to understand.
She began to crawl in search of him, forced to leave her typewriter behind in the dirt; the only thing that made her life worth living. But what's a life worth living if you favor it over the one who gave it to you?
She crawled on her hands for miles, calling his name until her voice broke with a sob, and she began crying uncontrollably.
Amidst her crying, she caught something shifting in the corner of her eye. Huge wings flapped awkwardly through the air, a large fluffy body attached below it swaying from side to side. It was Carnold.
The patterns stretching along its body confirmed it, but Sera's exhileration was mixed with confusion. Carnold was no longer the size of her head, but instead the size of a building. He'd grown immensely.
He seemed bewildered and frightened by his changes himself as he crashed into a tree, knocking it to the ground and getting tangled in its branches. Sera called for him.
He turned to her, but he was frightened and didn't recognize her from this new perspective, so he kept struggling against the roots of the tree.
Sera crawled to him, careful of his feet as he stomped about wildly. But as her hand brushed against his underbelly, scratching in just the right spot, recognition dawned in his black eyes.
As Sera untangled him from the branches and he flexed his new wings, she looked at him in amazement and wonderment.
From that day on, as Carnold adapted to his new set of wings, Sera would no longer explore the world through her typewriter, but instead travel across the land atop her pet; her friend, Carnold.