Chapter Text
Boy of nature and beast of the night;
Count on your allies to make things right.
Everything felt different when the world shifted back into place. This wasn't like the other times when they'd landed. There was no impact of hitting some sort of ground, only the feeling of the air whipping around him. It was like he was up in the air, like in a dream. Blinking his eyes open, Sam came to a realization. Firstly, he was not in fact dreaming. Secondly, he was falling through the air.
Almost on instinct, Sam transformed back to his gargoyle self, spreading his wings to stop his descent. Looking around, he saw the others realizing their predicament. Alex and Andy transformed one after another, stopping their descents and hovering in the air like Sam. Robin and Aster however… Since the two of them had no flying capabilities whatsoever, they continued to plummet towards the ground at an alarming rate. Glancing around Sam noticed they were quite high in the air, almost near the clouds. They were also right above an active volcano which didn't help things. Andy dove and quickly caught Aster.
With his instincts and panic screaming at him, the young gargoyle folded his wings and dived straight towards Robin. The young wizard was flailing about widely. Sam was never a spectacular flyer and wasn't the fastest either but that wouldn't stop him from diving through the sky to get to his friend. As they entered through the top of the volcano, Sam could feel the smoldering heat hit him like a rock but he pushed through it, ignoring how it made him pant heavily and how his skin felt sweaty.
When the young wizard was in reach, Sam reached out and attempted to grab him. They were getting closer and closer to the lava, everything around then getting hotter and hotter. Finally getting close enough, Sam grabbed onto the young wizard's torso and pulled him into a tight embrace. He flared his wings out to stop his descent and push them a bit further away from the lava bubbling underneath them. Quickly glancing around, he spotted a small ledge poking out from the wall of the volcano. The young gargoyle placed himself down, trying to ignore how the rock seemed to scorch his feet. His breathing was heavy but he eventually managed to get it to a more regular state.
Now that they were in a somewhat stable condition, Sam looked down at Robin. The young wizard was still clutched tightly to the young gargoyle; his breathing frantic, his eyes narrowed in panic, his body shaking. Robin looked absolutely petrified and Sam couldn't blame him. He was holding onto Sam like his life depended on it, his arms wrapped around the young gargoyle's neck. Part of Sam felt uncomfortable. He hadn't been this close to someone in years, let alone hugged someone. The last person he'd hugged had been Nau and he didn't dare think about his brother's fate. His mind began casting possible scenarios where his curse acted up and just absolutely ruined everything. He knew his curse couldn't act up unless he was angry but that didn't stop the fear. On the other hand… It was… nice to be this close to someone, to have that close embrace with someone he cared about. Although the circumstances could've been more ideal.
Looking around, Sam properly took in his surroundings. Yes they were in a volcano but there was surprisingly much more to it. The lava didn't fill up the whole area, only acting like a river or a big pond. Another thing was the walls of the volcano had many open tunnels and platforms scattered about. In one of these tunnels were about three humanoid looking beings looking over at him and Robin, giving them questioning looks. The young gargoyle couldn't help but laugh nervously and give a small wave.