Part 1~~Fallen Lover

This is where it all starts.

It could not have been a worse storm than this.

Thunder bellowed against the screaming winds while the relentless gale pounded the trees and bushes. Lightning flashed, sending bursts of searing white light towards the dark sky. The trees moaned and protested to no avail, their branches thrashed and waved, their leaves swept away into the tumult. 

There was no better time to be desperate than right now. Even the bravest bear would retreat back into its hollow or cave, even the most ferocious beast would cower to this storm.

The shelter barely held under the rain, and even the reinforced brambles trembled to the wind. The thunder shook the foundation to its very core, rocking the ones inside. There had been many storms like this before, but never one with this much power. Groans came from the trees, which threatened to collapse.

Gavin's talons scrapped across the dirt, creating crevices in the damp earth. The thunder was muffled from the outside, the drumming of the rain covered up a tiny bit by the roof. The shelter was dim, and even Velencia, the pigeon closest to him, was unseen. No light penetrated the brambles, making the small space seem smaller and more compressed. Gavin felt a stirring sense of unease. He had heard the tree roots move, and knew that the rain must have softened the earth too much. There was always the dreadful possibility that one would collapse.

Gavin heard a soft twitch of movement near Velencia. He knew what had caused it, yet he still looked down, a small flutter of love growing in his heart. His newborn chicks peeped quietly, nervous from the tension in the air. He could not see the chicks, but he knew they were there. Gavin and Velencia had been the first ones out of the hollow, carrying the chicks, whom had just hatched a week before.

The thunder rumbled again, and Gavin heard Rovven nuzzle his way into his mother's stomach. Frigen, his brother, peeped in agitation, and hopped over to his father, shivering. Gavin held the fragile body against his own, feeling the tiny heart beat and the featherless body stir. 

The rain lashed out harshly, and the whole shelter groaned under the new downpour. The whole flock stirred in nervous apprehension, murmuring quietly to each other. Frigen peeped again, then went silent. In fact, the whole flock had quieted. There was another distinct groaning, this time extremely close to the shelter. Gavin felt a trickle of dread creep down his back. It sounded like the tree he had built the shelter upon. 

When Gavin had built the shelter, he had never considered the fact that the trees he had built it own would collapse. After all, they were the two strongest ones in the whole forest, and this was the truth, as Gavin had searched all around to find a stronger pair. He had never imagined that there would be a storm this strong. 

Now Gavin cursed himself. If a tree fell, the whole shelter would be crushed. In the best scenario, only one or two pigeons would die. In the worst...the whole flock would be wiped out.

Gavin heard the groaning again, and then everything was eerily quiet. Not a single pigeon moved, the rain had stopped, and the thunder had ceased. Gavin barely had time to register this unnatural silence before the rain picked up again.

"Gavin, are you sure this shelter will hold?"

It seemed like Velencia had not spoken, but Gavin knew her to be like that. No, he thought. It won't if the rain continues like this. However, Velencia would not like to hear that. The flock depended on him. He had to tell them what they would like to hear.

"Ah...yes," he muttered over the words. "I believe that the shelter would hold..."

He felt an uneasy silence as the flock stirred restlessly.

"There will be no need to evacuate?" Velencia asked again, still not meeting Gavin's eyes.

Gavin shivered. "No, I do not think so. I...I don't...no, there will be no need."

But his doubts still ruled him. If the tree did fall...what would happen? Would his whole flock die?

Frigen shivered, and suddenly Gavin felt an overwhelming sense of fear. What was this unnatural silence? Where had the rain gone? Did the storm end? Why was there still lightning but no thunder? It was like all the sounds of the storm were muffled.

"Gavin."

Velencia's voice trembled. "Gavin, look."

Gavin glanced down towards where Velencia was directing, straight at his talons. A thin layer of water was slowly covering them and rising quickly, the clear liquid swirling and churning.

It took a while for Gavin to recover his wits. Then sheer panic overwhelmed him. The shelter was flooded. In a few minutes, they would all drown. He flapped his wings noisily, scaring Frigen and calling the attention of his flock.

"Evacuate!"

All the pigeons squawked as one, racing for the emergency exit. Gavin had purposefully designed two, and now he could see that that action was the one which had saved him his and Frigen's life. He shoved himself outside first, the cold night air scratching against his feathers. Gavin dug inside, took Frigen in his beak, and dragged the chick into the open as well.

"Velencia! Velencia, where are you?!"

Gavin felt himself drop onto his back, Frigen tucked under his wing. A wave of water had roared past, and suddenly all sound was gone, a stream of bubbles floated from his beak.

Then the water was past as quickly as it had come, and Gavin collapsed onto his front, grappling around for Frigen. Where was the chick? Where was he?

Panic, pure, terrifying panic, gripped him as he saw the next wave approach. "Frigen! Frigen!"

It was a miracle. Frigen was suddenly there, under his wing, and this time Gavin was ready. He clamped his feathers over the chick's beak and face, and covered his own, and, as the water receded, he called for Velencia again, called desperately for his mate.

"Gavin!"

Velencia appeared out of the darkness. Gavin turned. His stomach dropped. Rovven was missing.

"Where's Rovven?" Velencia sobbed. "Where is he?"

The next wave caught them unexpected, and Gavin turned just in time to see the shelter crumble under the force. He saw, under what faint starlight there was, a black shape tumble into the water.

"Rovven!" Velencia screamed, her voice a mixture of pure terror and anguish. "Rovven!"

"Velencia, stay back! Let me--look after Frigen--Velencia!"

Gavin watched with horror as his mate streaked towards his other chick, her wings curved as she swerved around one tree.

"Rovven! Rovven!"

"Velencia!"

Gavin could no longer see any of his flock. He hoped that his second-in-command, Kayet, had taken control.

Anguish seized Gavin's heart as he realized he could not see Velencia. "Velencia...Velencia..."

Frigen collapsed onto the ground, shuddering and gasping for air. Gavin felt, if possible, even more desperate. "Frigen! No, stay--"

Then the sound he had been dreading creaked into being. There was a large groaning, and then all of a sudden he could see the tree falling, the tree which he had built his shelter against. 

A wild sense of fear swept into his heart, and all Gavin could think about was Velencia and Rovven. He choked back a cry of terror, swept Frigen under his wing, and soared towards where he had last seen his mate.

"Gavin!"

And then Velencia was there, in her talons was Rovven. "Gavin, I have--"

Gavin did not have any time to screech a warning before the tree started its descent downwards.

"Velencia!"

His mate got the message too late. Velencia's eyes widened, and she watched as the large shadow toppled over. "Gavin, get back--"

Gavin felt a push in his chest, and he saw Velencia, tears glinting in her eyes, fall into the wreckage of the shelter, her wings splayed. He landed sideways from the wreckage, Frigen next to him, facing his mate and his second chick on the ground.

The tree followed only a second after.

The sound Gavin released was terrible. He screamed, his vision blurred with tears. "Velencia! Rovven, Velencia!"

The tree's branches rustled, and suddenly Gavin felt like his heart was broken, literally. "Velencia...Velencia, where are you?"

He half expected his mate to burst out from the branches, Rovven right next to her, peeping loudly.

The wind swept on, but this time they carried a tune of mourning, the thunder drumming its sadness. Gavin felt his heart burn black with guilt. If he had not rushed in to save Velencia, she would be alive. If he had not built the shelter between those two trees in the first place, she would be alive, and they would be praising their luck together.

Frigen peeped, and Gavin felt anguish and guilt and anger, all directed at himself. His chick would grow up without a mother. Rovven, who had only lived for a week, would never wake up and peep again. It was all because of him. Because of his stupidity.

Gavin spent the next hour digging past the branches, trying in vain to find his mate's body. Where his flock was, he never cared. They could be at the end of the world, for all he worried about. The name of his mate drummed in his head, accompanied by the peeping of Rovven. Velencia...Velencia...Velencia...Rovven...Rovven...Rovven.

He felt the branches part at last, and he looked down at a bare patch of ground. Gavin covered the hole up again, and started up on a new section, digging, searching for any sign of his mate and chick.

It was sunrise when he finally found some evidence. A single feather, white with red stripes, obviously Velencia's. Rovven did not have feathers yet, and he never would.

It was clear. His mate and chick were dead.

Gavin stood vigil until his flock showed up. He did not know when they had appeared, they just had, and Gavin never cared.

"Gavin?"

Gavin turned his head, thoroughly exhausted and defeated. "Me?"

Kayet stood in front of his flock, his beak hanging open in confusion. "Yes, you. Where were you? We were searching all over?"

"I was right here, letting my mate die." Gavin turned his back on his flock again.

"Velencia and Rovven--"

"They're gone."

Gavin felt a crushing sadness, greater than any anger, squeeze his heart. When it was over, his heart was gone. There was only a bit left to Frigen.

"I failed them," he said, his voice breaking. The wind rustled through the branches of the trees. "I failed them. I let them die."

All the anguish in the world was not even half of what he felt. "This is all my fault. I...I..."

Gavin stood up. "I am responsible. I built the shelter here and I went back for her. That made her push me away, and shove herself under that tree...I...I'm terrible. Rovven and Velencia are dead, and it's all my doing."

"Gavin, don't feel like that. You went back to Velencia because you loved her. It was never your fault."

"Don't try to comfort me," Gavin sobbed. "Don't. It is my fault. How will I ever live without her? How?"

At this, the flock was silent. Gavin turned his eyes to the tops of the trees. "We'll leave now."

"What?" Kayet exclaimed. "To where?"

"Anywhere but here!" Gavin snarled. "Anywhere but this cursed forest!" He turned on the fallen tree, slashing the branches to bits, fighting back tears. "I shall never set talon in here again, not if my life depends on it! Never!"

Gavin turned towards his flock. "Now. We leave now. Follow me."

The flock only hesitated a little longer before complying. Gavin spread his wings, taking Frigen, who was sound asleep, into his talons.

The forest was beautiful in the morning, dew glinting like crystalline tears on the blades of grass, dappled sunlight throwing golden shadows through the trees and early mist. A flock of crows flew past the sun, and Gavin closed his eyes. He would not look at this beauty, not while Velencia and Rovven were dead.

"I leave this forest in honor of my mate and chick," he started, his voice wavering. "I shall remember them always, but never come back. Never return to the place where they perished. We shall go where the sun leads."

Gavin flapped his wings and took to the sky, his feathers catching the crisp morning air. "Let us go."

With the forest at their backs and the sun as their guide, Gavin led his flock towards the distant city.