With the familiar's explosion, the air seemed to normalize. Vix let herself fall to the ground, although there really wasn't much of a fall left. She still felt like shit, and not entirely from being tired or worn out. Not in the physical sense anyway. No wonder assholes never admitted their faults, that shit was
exhausting. "Fucking hell..."
"...It was a little excited, but its heart is back in the right place," Scrafty sighed, wiping some of the familiar off of him. It was already starting to pull itself back together, which brought a smile to Scrafty. He looked back to Vix, collapsed in a puddle of herself. Despite that being a common Vix state, he still felt bad for her.
"Guess I should thank you, huh?"
Vix's eyes shifted around to look at Scrafty, tired.
"For what? I didn't do anything."
Scrafty shook his head.
"Nah, you did loads. For one, carried me around 'till I found my self again. In fact, I should say sorry for all this. You woulda been more stable if I knew you weren't him from the get-go, could've saved you a lot of... integrity."
"I doubt it. Like you said, I am what I am... Would've turned into a fuck up without you," Vix groaned.
"Another thing to say thanks for; you fightin' that selfish side of yours for him. I'm impressed you didn't totally fall apart," Scrafty chuckled.
"Actually, the fact you made it this far at all... What other void shadow could say they did that, huh?
I ain't got a lotta time left, the second he's back together, I'll be gone. He'll be whole again, with a new body and a new life to live. And so do I, now. Maybe, when he goes and pulls a you, we can kick it in hell and all that good shit. That won't be for another lifetime or ten, though."
Vix tried to prop herself up, but her arms were still too soft, and she felt back to the ground. So her eyes moved around again.
"Why the hell are you so... sentimental all of a sudden? Did I miss something between you lifting him up while kicking me while I'm down?"
"..." Scrafty took a deep breath, then walked over to Vix, crouching down to her head. There was a softness to its glare this time, almost soothing in a way.
"You might not be him anymore, but you still were. That's means everythin' I said to him applies to you too."
Most of the familiar had collected nearby, and strands of shadow from Scrafty started flowing into the mass of ectoplasm. He was almost ready. Scrafty's glare hardened again, and he poked Vix in the forehead. The melted Chandelure looked back up at him, locking her eyes with his.
"Pull yourself together." More of Scrafty's body was being pulled into the ectoplasm.
"Plant your goddamn feet." Everything up to the Shadow's chest was gone, and the rest would soon follow. Still, he jabbed Vix in the head with his digit, that fierce, unflinching glare still there.
"And give it everything you fucking got--" the Shadow's head was gone, yet his hand and glare remained as long as possible, still fixated on Vix. Shadowy wisps rose from his eyes, tears, and a proud grin appeared just below them,
"--to make yourself a Hero."
As the Shadow's remaining featured returned to where they rightfully belonged, Vix watched in silence. It didn't feel like she lost a piece of her, but she was gonna miss him anyway. Looked like that sentimentality of his got to her after all. "God... dammit, Kane." The pools of wax flowed back to their origin, building herself back up again. Vix picked herself up off the ground, a brighter shine about her than normal. There wasn't a new look, physically, but when everyone say her next, she'd definitely look different.
On the topic of different looks, the shade let off a lavender and red glow as his body solidified. With one fist raised in the air, a crimson frill mohawk upon his head, his eyes closed and his faced aimed towards the sky, and a lack of loose skin... he looked like a pretty normal Scrafty-Shade. Aside from the gaping chest wound that pulsed with a dull red light. And the far more noticeable scales.
Vix approached the shade, looking him over. To her, it looked like he was even taller than Scrafty was, and toned. Or was it lean? Fit, yeah, fit. "So..?"
The Shade blinked his eyes open, and slowly looked down at Vix. His height caught him off guard and he stumbled back a bit; this was the first time he had actually seen Vix at eye level before... although several memories started flowing into his mind telling him otherwise. He lowered his fist, flexing it, and swished his tail from side to side.
"So... what?"
"You know..." Vix cooed, floating around him. "How do you feel? What's it like? What's, uh... your name?"
"My name..?" the Shade hummed, flicking his tail in thought.
"Do you have an idea about it yet?"
"My name."
"Yeah, what's it gonna be?"
"My name."
Vix deadpanned, sighing. "If you don't wanna tell me, I understand. But you don't have to play dumb about it."
The Shade hung his head back, taking a deep breath, then crouched down real low. After a moment of silence, he suddenly exploded up, throwing his hands in the air and shouting out,
"DRAKE!!!"
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Vix yelped, holding her arms out to fight as her flame erupted.
"Oh, sorry. Drake. That's the name I want. Kane's last name. He didn't tell many, but at least now, I can honor his legacy!" Drake said, grinning brightly.
"Guess what I want my other name to be?"
Vix held up an arm, catching her breath and clutching her chest. "Geez, give a girl a breather, would ya? Scared me half to dea--" Suddenly, Drake wrapped his arms around Vix, squeezing her tightly. "...
Ooooookay..?"
"Wax. Wax Drake. But I'll go by Drake for now," he purred, squeezing Vix tighter. She was struggling not to melt at this point.
"You might've fucked me over for a while, and I should honestly want nothing to do with you, and frankly even calling myself wax is giving you way more than you deserve..."
"Mmmmm, yeah, internal pain. My favorite kind," Vix huffed.
"But, I still owe you big time. You helped bring me back to life, and you brought my Shadow back, and you never really gave up on me, even when you were jealous as hell about me."
Vix smiled, wrapping her arms around Drake. "Awww, that's so... wait..." She pulled back, looking Drake in the eye. "...How."
"Scrafty was a part of you, and now he's back to bein' a part of me," Drake grinned, winking.
"Gotta admit, you weren't kiddin' about your feelin's and shit. And I thought I was gonna explode from repressin' everythin', you were goin' nuts. How did you get anythin' done?"
"Oh god..." the Chandelure's face fell. Almost literally.
Drake's grin widened even further.
"Like, damn, I'm gettin' a headache just thinkin' back on it. Oh! Speakin' of, how bad do you want me to not tell everyone about your notebooks?"
A fierce glare from Vix snapped to Drake's face.
"I will actually fucking kill you again."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep quiet." Drake let out a laugh, pressing his forehead against Vix's.
"But, really, thank you... Thank you so, so much."
Vix chuckled lightly, patting Drake's head. "Don't thank me, really. I'm far from earning any of that, but I will." Vix let go, as did Drake, and the two shared a smile. "And I'll keep your softness a secret if you keep my notebooks a secret."
"Deal. I don't think anyone wants to know about you listing their strengths and weaknesses anyway," Drake nodded.
"It's called being scared of everyone around you because you're an insecure glob of darkness,
bite me," Vix huffed.
"You'd be into it, though," Drake snorted.
"But, first... how do we get outta here?"
Vix shrugged. "Was hoping you'd know, since you made all this. I think."
"...Great," Drake sighed.
