Chapter Text
Scar hadn't really considered the fact that he was exploring uncharted land.
His team had been persistently telling him not to go 'check out' the distant scream they had heard.
But to their dismay, Scar was a stubborn man.
Now, he lay on the forest floor, the grass green and the forest quiet, the chances he'd had to avoid this situation echoed through his head.
"I'm telling you, Scar-" Cleo had sounded like a worried mother, "-it's too dangerous!"
"Let him be Cleo, he's a grown man, he can handle himself."
Etho had tried to calm his ex partner down, yet it resulted in him getting the fire.
"Do make sure you mark the path though."
Oh he did, Tango, he really did.
"If you get eaten, do I get custody of Jellie?"
Scar silently snickers at that, but if he had to admit it, he'd rather have Joel care for his cat than someone he doesn't know.
He missed them.
Five days had gone by, and he was practically starving, hot and dehydrated.
This was how he was going to die, wasn't it...?
crack
Scar sat up from his spot in the grass, the sulking long forgotten.
"Hello?"
His eyes lit up.
He was somewhat hopeful that someone had found him, he was every time, but that usually goes as quickly as it comes. His head hangs low when he saw that the sound was caused by a deer running off.
He lets out a sigh, and stands back up, his cane wobbling under his hand.
"Welp! Better find some food...hopefully."
He sets off in the green of the forest again, the trees so high they almost seem to move, and the air so humid, that it was hard to breathe.
He goes through bushes, and picked off the things he knows he can eat. luckily, he knows quite a lot about this, it's all he used to do when he was younger.
The forest was beautiful, the sunlight filtering through the leaves, the peaceful sound of waterfalls in the distance. Scar would've enjoyed it if he weren't lost.
rustle
Scar stopped in his tracks. And took a deep breath.
"If you're going to follow me, could you be more discreet about it at least?"
... No answer.
He had noticed for a long time that something was following him, but it had gone on for way too long to his liking.
At night, he would sometimes hear it breathing next to him when he sleeps, the little bastard steals food often, and somehow had stolen one of his earrings.
Though, Scar couldn't help but be secretly uplifted by the thought of not being alone.
He had caught himself trying to start a conversation with the unmoving, glowing eyes he sees through the bushes, multiple times.
Perhaps it helped keep him on his legs for so long, or he was going batshit crazy.
Definitely the latter.
He perked up as the lighting in the forest turned a deep orange.
Evening, just perfect.
"...So... Do you like the sunset...?"
No answer.
"... Not very talkative, are you...?"
He remarked sarcastically.
"Can you please stop stealing my food? I need that too, y'know?"
The man looked insane, talking to the air. But it was quite amusing for the avian hiding in a low tree nearby, and couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle.
"Huh...?"
Scar turned around, he heard it.
There is something here.
The avian now caught red-handed, tried to make a run for it but froze at Scar's next words.
"Listen, I really want to be... acquainted, with you. I know that sounds crazy, and you probably don't trust me, but just sleep on it for a night... something tells me you're lost too."
...
A gust of wind, and quiet.
"Huff... well, there they go."
Scar clenched his jaw and prepared to set up a camp for that night.
He made a fireplace later that evening, Scar managed to get it to work with some leftover matches from his backpack.
He sat by the crackling fire, and stared into it, having eaten the berries he had found earlier.
But if you looked a bit further, you could see that he had left a few.
"I only hope you'll see it as a peace offering..."
He muttered to himself.
He sat down on the hard ground, and closed his eyes.
"Goodnight, stalker."
Scar's eyes fluttered open slowly...
And were met with another pair of eyes.
He sat still for a second, and snapped up at the realization that there was someone looming over him.
His head collided painfully with the other's head and both fell back and groaned in pain.
"Ow!! What was that for?!"
Scar's hand lowered from his head when he heard the voice of what he speculated was his stalker and saw him for the first time.
"...you're..."
Warm brown eyes, sunlit hair.
The pair of red, yellow and blue wings on his back, and the talons for feet...that's-
An avian.
...
His stomach dropped.An avian.
What was he supposed to do?
He hadn't expected the creature to come out so quickly, let alone that it would be an avian, one of the most unexplainable creatures on the earth!
"...S-so... Uhm....."
His hands shook, his breath shallow.
His gaze fell onto the spot of the now missing berries. Perhaps if he approached passively, the avian would too.
"Did you... like the berries...?"
He tries to sound casual, yet had tremendously failed that act, he shuffles a bit further.
"I"m sorry it wasn't much, I wasn't sure if..."
He trailed off at the sight of the creature's broken wing.
The conversation, if you could call it that much, fell silent for a good minute. Only to be broken by the avian's soft chuckle.
"You're hopeless."
Scar's expression twitched.
"Not unlike you..."
It froze, and its wings stiffened
"Shut up."
Okay, too casual.
The creature was strange.
He had been stalking Scar before, but now it had just revealed itself... and now it's acting hostile again?
Very strange.
But Scar knew it needed a form of help, so perhaps a slow approach was the best, like when he has to take Jellie to the vet.
"So... can I know name? Or do you prefer stalker?"
Scar tried to joke.
The avian's wings loosen a bit.
"My name is Grian, and yours, human?"
Scar repeated it in his head a few times, the name surprisingly fitting, and relieved it took it well.
"Scar, my name is Scar."
Grian deadpanned.
"Who called their child that...?"
Scar slightly gasps, really testing the waters now.
"Hey! It is a beautiful name, mind you!"
Grian humors himself a tiny smirk.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, big guy..."
The atmosphere felt lighter, but the caution was still there, they went on until the early evening, getting to know eachother a bit better.
That was until a low rumble echoed through the forest, and Grian tensed.
"Shit."
The hybrid pathetically tried to fly away, yet, a broken wing wasn't ideal, so he opted for the low growth instead.
Scar tilted his head, and the rumbling sounds again, this time closer. WAY closer.
"Grian?"
Grian looked at Scar like he’d lost his mind, and ushered him over. When Scar stood over grian, the avian pulled him down and whispered in his ear...
"It's blind, but has an unfair hearing capability, so if you want to live for now, lay down, and shut up."
Scar lay down, and did as Grian had said, his heart did gymnastics at this point. Not only of fear, but he was strangely flustered by how close the avian was
"It can hear your heartbeat if It's going fast...so stay calm."
How was he supposed to stay calm in any of these situations?!
The loud stomping of a clearly big creature comes closer, and his eyes divert to the sound.
A giant beast, with no eyes, deep blue colors with a wierd shine to it, and a hollow chest that glowed with each thunderous heartbeat.
It was terrific, yet beautiful, in a wierd way.
Not when it came closer though, then it was just terrific.
His heartbeat, it could hear his heartbeat.
Scar tried to calm down, but the creature kept strutting forward, leaving a trail of musky, dark blue... something in it's wake.
Scar closed his eyes.
Calm down.
Calm down!
Calm down!!!
"Scar..."
A faint whisper next to him, Grian, undoubtedly.
He opened his eyes, only to be met by the creature's eyeless face right in front of him.
.
.
.
.
"Run."