Crash!
"Cough! Cough!"
Am coughed violently, the iron in his mouth abandoned his lips.
He landed quite far away from where they originally had been.
"Famu!"
He growled his comrade's name. A response came shortly after.
'Here!'
Famu screamed at his brother's call, and..he was stuck in a hole?
'Help me out brother!'
Though his voice remained muffled due to being stuck in a hole, Am could still make it out.
"Can't"
'Huh?! Why!'
"My arms are too injured to prove any use or aid"
Right now, both of his arms were broken, maybe even permanently wounded if not treated quickly.
'Then just bite and drag me out!'
"..Even I am not that uncivilized"
Leaving Famu, he tried searching for Iye, but could not find her.
It was only then that he sighed in relief.
'This is for the best'
Truly, a relief.
'It's a good thing that she didn't fall together with us'
While Am couldn't kill Iye, due to her mysterious strength which he still had no knowledge of how much she truly had at the disposal, 'accidently' losing her through the use of his insight had always been the plan the moment escape was the objective.
She was, after all, still the enemy.
'And the one..'
Who killed his brother in arms.
'This is my last mercy to you as your enemy—'
"H-hic.."
"...?"
All of a sudden. Am heard a whimper coming from above.
Tears doused a part of his fur, he knew instantly that they belonged to the person he had saved.
They had pulled themselves together and awoken.
Am gulped, his adam's apple bopped up and down, his face remained one of full contemplation.
'What the hell am I doing?'
The person above him wasn't even his own race, yet he still saved him, why? Because of some dumb wish, not even his own, but a certain significant other.
He glanced at his seared wrist, revealing his initials proudly to the world. A medal of honor and recognition.
A medal that showed he was the one and only worthy successor of the 'Am'. Despite this, he knew nothing of what meaning it held.
'What does the name Am mean?'
A young Am asked the meaning of his noble title to the girl next to him.
'You don't know?'
The young Oksi fiddled with her claws, pondering what to say to the boy almost her age.
'Well...'
'Well?'
She stuck out her tongue, letting out a cartoonish sound, blowing her tongue through sharply exhaling.
'I also don't know!'
She then raised her hands, dramatically yet also in a childish way.
'I thought you said the patriarch told you?'
'I lied!'
The young Am scoffed.
'As naturally as you breathed'
'...Not funny'
'You think sneaking out of the tribe is funny then?'
The young Oksi drew a perplexed expression on her features.
'How...'
'I also followed you out'
'Huh?! You followed me! Are you crazy?!'
Am frowned.
'I wouldn't have followed you if you didn't also go out you know? I presume all the blame should be shifted all on you'
'Hah! So young I see! That is not how you use presume in a sentence'
'You're wrong?'
Am rebutted every single defame struck to him.
Even among the Oksi, he was considered to be the smartest one out of all of them.
Talks of him soon becoming the patriarch of Tierre had become the most interesting topic among the elders.
Of course, the priests of Goddess Natura remained as indifferent to them as ever, which Am didn't particularly care about, they were always indifferent to the wildlife in the Sabe after all.
The young Am drooped his head, casting a gaze at the dirt.
'I don't get it'
'....?'
Am had followed the young Oksi out many times before, always using the old Tierre path to move about.
'What is it that you don't get?'
She asked, curious to see what the genius of the Tierre cannot understand and finally teach him something he did not know.
A simple milestone for her.
'I understand you wanting to get out, after all there isn't much to accomplish here and you are quite stubborn'
He could understand her not wanting to stay in the tribe, in fact he held deep awe for her wanting what she desired.
But, he just couldn't understand why she would go out of the tribe to do something....so insignificant.
'Why save those creatures?'
'The..geniuses?'
'Yeah them or whatever, well they aren't the only thing you rescue, all creatures you meet outside that are on the verge of death are included as a whole'
He took a small breath, his mouth unable to keep up with the constant speech.
'For some reason, you always save them, why do that?'
'You..really did follow me..'
She feigned a dramatically creeped out attitude. Am only got more annoyed
'Stop dragging and tell me'
'Ouch'
She unconvincingly imitated heartbreak, whimpering pathetically. Seeing the intense glare of Am, she soon stopped her antics and cleared her throat.
'Well, should there be one?'
Am's face twisted.
'....What kind of nonse—'
'Isn't it instinct to save someone in pain?'
Her next words confused and rattled his brain more.
'I...didn't know you were that kind of person..'
'Eh, not really'
She shrugged.
'That's the reason my dad saved people no matter the race anyway, I have different reasons'
'You aren't even hiding the fact you are messing with me on purpose anymore huh?'
The young Oksi snorted at the compliment and wagged her little tail in joy.
'So? why do YOU save them? If not for the same reason as your father'
The Oksi blinked once, melancholy filled her eyes, flashes of the past breezed by.
'Because'
Her eyes flashed a certain radiance, the kind that. No matter how many times you see it again, only the first time would be special to you.
'Just like a certain someone saved me and became my role model'
She pounded her chest and proudly sang out her desire to all.
'I want to be someone else's model they look up to and praise like a statue of old!'
Her long arms then rested at the hips, the sun shined down on her, casting a long shadow onto Am.
'I desire to be someone's hero!'
From the top of her lungs, her desire crawled out and rode against the wind, echoing endlessly through the forest and endlessly into Am's skull.