Finished Spiraling Solo

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Earworm. That is what it officially was now as it would not relinquish its grip on her whenever Woofy crossed her mind. Snatches of it sometimes played in the background of her subconscious and other times it roared like a tiger at the forefront of everything. And each time it did, it always made her want to cry, this song from a silly childhood movie favorite. But it felt hugely important now, this movie she had not thought of in years. A breadcrumb to her past and to important lessons learned that may guide her in her present. No matter how often she had cried while viewing The Land Before Time, which was each and every one of the hundreds of times she must have watched it, she came out feeling hopeful. That had to be the reason she was now plagued with the earworm, right? Dark as it was now, there was a light at the end. Just be a good... no! Be a great friend. Did she have it in her now to be as brave and steadfast as Littlefoot had been for his friends? She prayed so. He needed her to be so.

Don't lose your way
With each passing day
You've come so far
Don't throw it away

Colin was lost. Lost to himself. Lost to AngelFyre for sure, and most worrisome of all, he looked to be lost to Clair. How was that even possible? I mean... she was talking about Clair! His Clair. The girl was the very embodiment of his idea of perfection; the warm, soft center of his noisy, bustling, feral, world. It was mind-blowingly inconceivable to AngelFyre the things she had seen, and not seen, and the things she had had heard, and not heard from her best friend since the evening of the Masquerade Ball. AngelFyre’s worry for him had drilled clear down to exposed nerves and the shocking pain of it was excruciating. She knew he needed help, there was no question of that, but why he did was the mystery.

Live believing
Dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start

She had been feeling useless and powerless to help him; a feeling so unlike what she had experienced last year with her visions helping Colin identify the troubled soul behind the hit letter targeting him for a brutal attack. Her power seemed stronger then. She had tried and tried to channel anything to find the answers to the Colin questions she held now, but her Seer abilities were failing her... were failing him... miserably. It would seem that the only power she held over him at this point was the love and friendship they shared. That was going to have to be enough and she knew better than to discount it as it was no small thing, to either one of them, but she was clueless as to how far down into the darkness he had fallen. Still, the fleeting nature and unpredictability of her visions was frustrating and creating an enervating emotional miasma of her own. Though she had struggled long and hard to overcome her personal feelings, sometimes more successfully than others, AngelFyre knew that this could not be about her. It had to be about Colin so she would… she must… find a way to help him. Whatever it may take.

To that end, she had spent numerous weeks, and fruitless hours, hunting for her friend. Tracking was his wheelhouse after all; not hers. And as mentioned before, her wheelhouse was not even her wheelhouse as of late. Even if she did find herself in his company, what then? She had not formulated anything precise because the context of the situation would guide her words and thoughts more than anything. She hoped finding him would, as a worst case scenario, at least have him acknowledge her and may, as a best case scenario, have him finally open up and tell her what was happening with him.

If he even could.

If he even wanted to.

Live your story
Faith, hope, and glory
Hold to the truth in your heart

He was a sullen, darkened shadow of himself, and it chilled her for him and for everyone else at this school quite honestly. She had been at Hogwarts long enough to have heard the stories and the warnings of the dark things that preyed on the student body. Kids had been taken over by hags, poisoned by shadow spiders, used as hosts for giant slugs living and thriving within them. Some had been made weapons for evil ends and all could have died while trying to take out as many other students with them as possible. The grisly events at the last Ball were the most recent example in a long line of examples... a much too long line.

So her mind had started there. Colin was the one to have taken on the homicidal “Real Girl” hag doll hand to hand some time back. Had he been compromised in some way at that time? Had some evil been lying dormant within him that had been triggered and sprang to life that night at the Ball? Could that be it? If so, it could also be that he was even unaware of it himself and was as confused as she was. What she did know was that it crossed her mind for once in her life to wish she was a Slytherin. At least then she would presumably have easier access to her friend. Even if that were the case though, knowing him as she did, it would likely make no difference. He was not hunkering down in the green, dark depths of the Basements. That she definitely knew.

He was out here.

Somewhere.

Words are swaying
Someone is praying (can you feel it, Woofy?)
Please let him come home to stay *

AngelFyre stood, twirling the stem of heather she had gathered from the rock outcropping as she looked out over the Great Lake and towards the Forbidden Forest beyond. She had come to the high place… the sacred place… once again, although she had now, sadly, grown use to Colin’s absence here. His absence only made her pray more fervently on his behalf even though her hurting heart knew his meaning was clear; avoidance.

When we are are out there in the dark
We'll dream about the sun
In the dark we'll feel the light

For well over a month now he had darted away from every approach she attempted to make in his direction. She had ventured out early on a few mornings during curfew to try and catch him at the Great Lake where she knew he used to like to go for morning swims. Her eyes misted at the memory of how he always smelled of the lake water in the mornings and how the beads of water glistened on his plaited braid as the sun first peeked at them on the horizon. Often she had met him out there and they would go for morning runs, though his circuit runs were often detoured by whatever scent he caught in the air that captured his fancy. He would usually break off in a completely different direction then, calling joyfully after her to follow. AngelFyre never minded. It was always an adventure and one of the few alone times the two friends got to share. After their runs, they always headed in for breakfast.

But that felt like a lifetime ago.

It had occurred to her that the only time she ever hoped to have the drop on him was in the Great Hall during meal times, but he was not there as consistently as he had been in the past. It was not difficult to see that he was thinner than usual, but not nearly emaciated. He did not have much extra to spare to begin with, but she still worried. It was the only thing that kept her at bay on the occasions he did show up at the Great Hall to eat because he looked like he needed it. If she even attempted an approach she knew he would be gone.

As high
As souls can fly
Our dreams will never die
They'll see us through to forever
as clouds roll by

A forceful sigh escaped her lips and was propelled over the Highlands to do nothing more than die on the wisps of a breeze. Archimedes was perched in his favorite tree near the outcropping, some 200 meters away, watching her and listening for prey. She saw his head swivel as his attention was focused on the heathered field between them. In a flash he was airborne and successfully winged his way to dispatching a shrew or field mouse or some such rodent unlucky enough to be out and foraging in that moment. She loved her owl, but she did not relish watching him tear his prize apart back at his perch, so she averted her eyes.

Just as she did so, she thought she had what may prove to be a brilliant idea, and she had Archimedes to thank for it. It was the first bit of hope that she had held on the subject of Colin for a month. “Tomorrow morning, Mr. McCoire, this weeks long, nightmarish game of hide and seek hopefully comes to and end.”

If we hold on together.

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@Colin McCoire @Clair Fernandez

Song: If We Hold On Together (theme from The Land Before Time)
OOC: * underlined word was changed by me