Zac sat in the middle of the muddy stable pen, his leopard-print onesie thoroughly ruined, happily petting the jagged, rocky head of the demonic snapping turtle.
"Oh, whosa good boy? Who has a heavy head?" Zac cooed, his voice pitching up into that ridiculous, universal pet-owner register. "You do, don't you? Who made my legs fall asleep? It was you, huh? With your big watermelon noggin. Oh, whosagoodboy!"
Zac winced, trying to stretch out his lower half. Being pinned under a boulder-sized reptile for hours had completely cut off the circulation to his calves. As his hands stopped their rhythmic scratching to rub at his thighs, Leonardo let out a sharp, grating hiss, his ancient eyes narrowing.
"Okay, okay, I'm doing it," Zac quickly resumed petting the thick, leathery skin behind the beast's jaws, and the turtle relaxed back into his lap.
With his free hand, Zac began picking up the remaining bits of leftover meat chunks from the wet, hay-covered ground. He didn't even care what the squishy, bloody protein used to belong to anymore. He just tossed the gore directly into Leonardo's waiting, razor-sharp beak. Crunch. Squelch.
At least Bune will be here soon, Zac thought, watching the turtle happily masticate. Bune's dream-self had panicked about Zac being in the pen, which meant the real Bune was probably already on his way down here to fish him out.
Zac groaned in pain, leaning forward to furiously massage some life back into his right leg. A fierce, biting wave of pins and needles erupted from his knee down to his toes. It hurt like hell, but it was a welcome feeling; it meant his legs hadn't been strangled to death and would be back under his control in a few moments.
Suddenly, the dim gloom of the stables was obliterated.
A blinding blast of pure, white-silver light erupted, forcing Zac to squeeze his eyes shut against the glare. A deafening CRACK of displaced air shattered the silence, followed immediately by a wave of dust and debris that coated Zac's face. The harsh, metallic smell of ozone and burning hair flooded his nostrils.
Startled, Zac tried to turn and scramble away, but his legs, still deep in the throes of the pins-and-needles phase, completely betrayed him. He flopped over like a wet noodle, falling face-first into the muddy, bloody slop of the pen.
Through the ringing in his ears, he heard the heavy thud of boots.
Marchosias vaulted over the small iron fence with terrifying speed. His midnight greatcoat flapped wildly behind him, his armored boots sending arcs of wet mud flying into the air as he landed in the pen.
"You filthy, shelled pea-brain!" the Wolf Captain howled. A second, terrifying ball of atomic annihilation breath was already forming in his snarling maw, glowing with blinding intensity. "You'll die for paralyzing Zac!"
Marchosias unleashed the blast of silver fire directly at Leonardo.
The beam of holy destruction struck the Aspidochelone dead center. Zac blinked furiously, trying to clear the spots from his vision to see the horrific carnage of his new pet being atomized.
As the smoke cleared, Zac gasped.
Leonardo had barely even flinched. The fearsome beam of silver fire, the same breath attack that had erased a massive Bicorn and half a medical table from existence without a trace, had left nothing but a tiny, smoking scorch mark on the turtle's rocky back.
Leonardo surged forward… well, "surge" might be a strong word. He advanced with the inexorable, grinding momentum of a tectonic plate, walking right over the top of Zac much like a slow-motion steamroller. Zac sputtered, his face pushed deep into the wet, dirty floor as the living boulder positioned itself protectively between him and the furious wolf.
Leonardo extended his long, wrinkled neck and hissed at Marchosias, a sound like steam escaping a geyser.
"EVERYTHING IS RUINED!" Marchosias yelled, his voice raw with fury and pain. "I've been trying so hard! And a mindless reptile has ruined my plans!"
Zac pushed himself up onto his elbows, wiping mud from his eyes. He was about to defend his new BFF Leo, he's not mindless, he just really likes organ meat!.. but what March said next made his breath catch in his throat.
"The Avatar was innocent! He was pure!" March howled, his amber eyes burning with silver fire. "And once again, demonic scum has destroyed something good!"
Zac rolled over just in time to see Marchosias pulling his longsword from its sheath with a ring of steel. The wolf captain advanced on the turtle, the blade glowing ominously. "You will understand what it means to regret!"
Zac scrambled. His legs were still jelly, refusing to support his weight, so he dragged himself forward using his arms, hauling himself up using the turtle's rocky shell as leverage. He winced as the rough carapace ripped into his palms, but he didn't stop. With a desperate heave, Zac flung himself over the top of the shell, landing between the hissing turtle and March's swinging sword.
"STOP!" Zac shouted, throwing his arms wide. "Killing Leo isn't very cowabunga!"
Marchosias's eyes went wide with horror. He jerked his sword upward at the last possible nanosecond, his muscles screaming against the momentum. The blade hissed through the air, slicing cleanly through one of the floppy fleece leopard ears on Zac's hood.
The force of the sudden redirection sent Marchosias spinning. He lost his footing in the slick mud and went down hard, crashing onto his back with a heavy, armored thud.
Zac fell over too, not from the force of the sword swing or the shock of near-decapitation, but simply because his legs were still completely asleep. He toppled forward like a felled tree, landing directly on top of the sprawling wolf captain with a soft, muddy splat.
Zac lay chest-to-chest with Marchosias, the heavy armor pressing into his soft fleece onesie. He could hear March's breath coming in ragged gasps right next to his ear. Slowly, Zac pushed himself up just enough to look into the Captain's eyes. His heart hammered against his ribs as he saw them… smoldering, unshed tears glistening in the wolf's fur, tracking paths through the dust on his face.
"Are you hurt?" March asked. His voice was as gravelly and deep as always, but beneath the command, there was a tremor of genuine, terrified worry.
Zac slowly lowered himself back down, laying his cheek against the wolf's chest. He snaked his arms around Marchosias's neck, not caring about the mud that smeared across his sleeves. "Only you could hurt me, Wolf Daddy," he whispered. "If you said you did not love me."
Marchosias choked on his breath. With a surge of strength, he rolled over, pinning Zac beneath him in the mud. He looked down at the human, his expression fierce. "I meant physically," he growled.
Zac grabbed March's arm, the demon's ability to stabilize himself compromised by the slick wet floor.. With a surprising burst of leverage, Zac turned the tables, rolling until he was back on top of the wolf again. He straddled March's waist, looking down with intense determination.
"It would hurt my heart if you died a virgin, Captain," Zac said, maintaining unwavering eye contact with the increasingly flustered demon. "I've been lonely for twenty-six years. You've been lonely for an eternity."
Marchosias rolled again, a blur of motion that ended with Zac pinned flat on his back in the muck. Zac's arms were held by the wrist and the wolf sat on his waist. March leaned in close, his muzzle just an inch from Zac's face, his amber eyes burning.
"You are the virgin," March said, his voice dropping to a quiet, dangerous rumble. "And I will not let you out of my sight again."
Zac squealed with pure, unadulterated joy.
Marchosias flinched, pushing himself up and away, looking completely startled by the noise.
"Did you hear that, Leo?!" Zac shouted over March's shoulder, beaming at the indifferent turtle. "He hates when I'm lonely!"
"Why are you two rolling around in the mud?!"
Bune's voice tore through the stable, shattering the moment. The dragon butler stood at the gate, looking horrified. "Turtle dung stains terribly!"