Chapter 23: Cleaning Up

Minor

I rushed over to Qualin, gripping his shoulders with my foreclaws and wrapping my wings around him. The thought that he may have gotten hurt made me feel sick. Nuzzling under his chin, I whined softly as I did a mental scan to insure he was alright, filling his mind with my love at the same time. He readily accepted my presence, placing his hands on the back of my neck and contentment coloring his mind.

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea there were demons near here. I swear, I checked. There must be a portal or something. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone--"

"Hey, calm down. I'm fine. Look, not a scratch." He cupped my muzzle with one hand and pulled back to look me in the eyes and smiled. He really was very handsome. The look on his face and touch of his hands was already putting me at ease. "I'm not completely helpless, you know?"

"I know... but I brought you here. I'm responsible for keeping you safe. It was stupid to leave you." I pressed my face into his palm and sighed quietly.

"Hey, it's my fault for wandering off. I should have been paying closer attention to my surroundings and maybe I would have noticed something was off. Oh, shit..."

He started looking around. "That big beast that brought us food...I think it tried to protect me and was protecting me..."

I quickly turned the direction Qualin was looking and saw the bloodied, matted fur in the broken foliage and jumped to it.

***

Qualin

Minor immediately looked concerned and teleported away from me. I immediately felt his absence again, but pushed the ache in my heart aside. Moving quickly, I reached our bloodied friend in moments. It's breath was shallow and ragged and it's flesh seemed to be rotting, but it was alive and whining softly.

Guilt washed over me and I reached out to touch it, but before my hand even got there, white light was pouring from Minor and spreading through the poor thing.

After a moment, the light faded and the thick fur was clean and whole again. The beast raised it's head, looking and sounding much happier.

"I'm so sorry you got hurt, but thank you for protecting my partner." Minor nuzzled under it's chin, trilling softly, and it began licking his face.

It was playful and kinda cute. I couldn't help a smile. Then a thought struck me and i didn't know if I was going to laugh or get upset. "Umm.... should i be jealous?"

The look of confusion on Minor's face definitely made it more amusing.

"Huh? W-what....?"

"Someone else is kissing on you and you're kinda cuddling and kissing back..." I couldn't help feel a small ping of jealousy. True, this was just some animal, but then again, so was my partner...

"What!? No, no, no, no. No, it's not like that! Animals are just like this. It's not the same! this is like... shaking hands are something, it's not, like... intimate."

He's so cute when he's flustered.

Whatever little weirdness I had felt quickly faded as he moved next to me, still babbling reassurances while nuzzling my face and wrapping his wings around me again. Our large friend got to it's feet and started to amble off.

"Alright, I trust you." I smiled at him and ran my hands down his warm, scales. Admittedly, it was fun and adorable watching him grovel. It definitely felt good having him in my arms again. I only wanted him showing affection to me, at least for the time being.

I trailed my fingers back up his sides and couldn't resist touching his wings and then the horns on his head. He did look pretty cool, but I still wasn't quite sure how to kiss him like this...

Possibly reading my mind, he said with a cute, embarrassed expression, "Oh...I can change back, but...uh... first..." He glanced back at the vile corpse not too far away.

"Right. What are we gonna do with that? I've never seen anything like it. It's like it's contaminating the whole area."

"You can see that? Wow. Most might see the rot right around it, but not how it spreads. If left, it will corrupt the area, effecting behavior, causing disease, and worse, attracting more fiends. If an area becomes too corrupt, it can make it easier for more powerful fiends to cross over."

I wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but it sounded bad. "Can we burn it, or..."

"No, that won't purify the evil energy. I saw you burn a little, but it still left some residue...."

"We can't just leave it..."

"No... I'll take care of it. You can go back to the other pool. It's not too far and I'll be back shortly."

"Why do you want me to leave? What are you gonna do?"

"I'll take care of it." Minor avoided my gaze as he spoke, sounding a little sheepish.

"W--" I stopped, suddenly realizing I knew exactly what he was going to do, how transformers 'purify' evil. I'd seen his memories, but it was still hard to swallow. "You're going to...eat...that?!"

He ducked his head, looking embarrassed. "I know how that sounds... but it's kinda what we're made for. We consume that rotten, evil energy, and purify it. It'll restore my strength and healing energy."

"...You're sure...that..." I looked over at the corpse that looked like poison incarnate, "won't hurt you?"

"Nope. I'll be fine. I've dealt with that species before. Besides... like I said, this is what we're made to do. The more vile, the more power."

The idea was unsettling, but he looked confident. "Alright." I looked around and spotted the blanket I had dropped at some point, and since i was still naked and it was a little chilly, I wrapped myself back in it and settled down on a nice patch of moss.

Minor looked at me with a confused look. "Umm... you can head back..."

"Why?"

"You... don't need to be here."

"What? You don't want to eat in front of me?" I chuckled.

"Well... most people find it... unpleasant."

"I'm not just some random person. I'm your partner, aren't I? I don't want you hiding any part of yourself from me. Even if it's... 'unpleasant'. You said that you wanted every part of me, didn't you? Well, I went every part of you, too. Even if there are some things that'll take some getting used to. I want to. No sense putting it off. So, if this is a part of your life, so be it." I gestured from him to the fiend on the ground. "I'll be here... just let me know if i can do anything." I shrugged, feeling awkward but determined.

***

Minor

Qualin's words stirred a strange feeling in my chest. I still felt a little uncomfortable. What if he didn't like my more animalist side? What if he felt I was too savage? It's not that I was ashamed of that part of me, just worried that it was a little soon and might overwhelm him. However, hearing his desire and determination to accept all of me, made me feel warm and tingly.

It was hard to sit still; I playfully bounced on my feet and hoped over to him, butting my head against him and giving a few quick licks to his face.

"Hey!" His hands caught my head and jostle me back and forth. For a moment, I was ready to forget about eating; all i wanted was to play and love on my partner.

'Hey! Did you hunt? Can we join?'

'Yeah, let's all eat together!'

A heavy sigh escaped me; Qualin immediately noticed. "What's wrong?"

"It's my family. I was trying to keep my mind blocked off for... you know... privacy," I giggled a little, "but I guess they noticed when i was fighting and now want to join for...."

"A family dinner?"

"Ha ha, yeah, basically."

"Sounds fun." His smile was so charming, but I could tell he was nervous.

"My family can be a lot, you don't have to meet them all right now, if you don't want to."

"It's fine. I mean, I already met your dad, that's gotta be the worst part, right?"

I laughed. "True, and Dad liked you, so I know everyone else will. My mom and siblings are all great. There's just...a lot. They are a lot."

"Hey, what did I just say? I want to know everything about you. And I get the feeling your family is important to you."

His tone was serious. He was nervous but his sincerity saturated his mind.

"Alright." I embraced him, wrapping him in my energy and forming new clothes for him. "There. That's better."

He looked at his new outfit, I tried to make it as similar as i could to his previous one, though it was now soft black leather. I even replaced the straps he had tied on his arms when we first met.

"Neat trick." He seemed genuinely pleased. I gave him a quick kiss, licking his cheek.

"Alright, here we go." I signaled my family that they could join, but reminded them to mind their manners because Qualin was here.

They all squealed in excitement about meeting my new partner. Far more voices than I expected echoed the excitement.

Oh crap....