Embers of Love

The forest passed by in a blur as Cupcake jumped over fallen logs and ducked under rugged boulders. Her boots splashing through the cold stream. Her jacket snagged on branches. Fabric tearing. Leafless branches pinching at her cheeks. She tucked her chin against her neck and pumped her arms. She was doing her best to survive. Her legs outracing her heart. Her breath fogging her large, circular glasses. Those atrocities were after her. Hundreds of enormous spiders with teeth jutting out of their bodies. In her short time in the Realm of Space and Forest, Cupcake had never seen anything like them. What was a harmless geocaching hike with her girlfriend had turned into this panicked escape. Cupcake was ordinarily timid and jumpy, but these things were beyond terrifying. Where had her girlfriend gone? Had they already overpowered Calliope? Was she hurt? She needed to double back, but she couldn’t do it alone.

The more she ran, the bigger everything grew. Time slowed down to a crawl. Every second pounded between her ears. The bloodcurdling noise of the spiders’ legs. It made her skin crawl. She had lost her way, twists and turns ago. She remembered the look on her girlfriend’s face as she turned and ran.    

“No!” The sheep screamed. “Please! Somebody help me!” Tears blurred her vision as she tripped and tumbled down the embankment. She groaned in pain as she came to a stop in the bottom of a stony gully. She struggled to her hands and knees to realize that her glasses had flown off her face from the force of impact. She was defenceless! She fumbled over. Something leered over her. Something enormous. It’s shadow plunged her into darkness. Cupcake kicked her legs, hoping that she could at least disorientate her attacker. Choking on her own words. Her entire body was trembling. Cupcake scrunched her eyes closed, rolled over onto her back in the damp, cold mud. Blind. Listening to the bone-chilling chittering of the spiders closing in.

“NO YOU DON’T!” A female voice roared. “GET YOUR HAIRY LEGS OFF MY GIRLFRIEND!”

Cupcake felt a surge of heat, followed by an explosion of searing reddish, orange light. The entire forest ablaze in seconds. The spiders scuttling away, bursting into flames one by one. Cupcake winced, sitting up. She could already feel her arms bruising from the fall. She squinted. The once green forest a haze of striking inferno and charred tree-trunks.

Calliope was not done yet. Floating along in her feral mode. Her long hair billowing around her. She laid waste to the tooth spiders. Her paws bunched into fists. The flames licking hungrily. Cupcake raised her arm to shield her face from the intense heat. She closed her eyes. She had no idea what was going on. Broken glass and slivers of metal jutted out of her side from the camera she’d brought along to take pictures of her demigoddess girlfriend. A few cute pictures of their photo album. Now she was going to die. Suffocated by burning timber and charred flesh.

She must have passed out, because the next thing she knew, she could breathe again. Fresh...air? Her jacket had been removed and spread out beneath her like a blanket. The puzzled sheep felt something damp, but warm pressed against her cheek. Not one of those toothy spiders. They would have eaten her by now. The nose moved down her cheek to the side of her neck. Cupcake stretched her hands out gingerly, pushing a large, plush muzzle away.

The stranger continued to pin her down and press their nose against her until she blushed.

“Cal?”

The figures nodded, before realizing that her girlfriend couldn’t see.

“You don’t have to be scared. I’m here now. You’re safe. They can’t hurt you.”  

Somehow she was not sure.

However, the nuzzling helped slow her heart beat. She arched her back to meet Calliope’s adoration. She smelt so sweet and strong. The sheep’s thoughts clouded until all she could think of was this moment. Her girlfriend was not hurt. Embers burned in the pit of her stomach.

“Cal?” She coughed. Her chest felt tight and sore, but the cold air was slowly taking its place.

“I lov….” She trailed off. “...I lost my glasses. I can’t see.” She could not bring herself to say what she was really feeling. Not like this. The smaller female buried her head in her hands to hide the tears.

“You have no idea of what personal space is, do you?” She teased the larger female. Quipping like this would keep her mind off the aching of her injuries. Her entire body wanted to give up.

“Not when it comes to you.” Calliope chuckled, leaning in for another nuzzle.

Cupcake was calm enough to joke around. That smile was all the demigoddess needed. She felt guilty for blazing the forest, but at least the hike back would be a little easier. How did she find Cupcake when they got seperated? The bond of soulmates. The demigoddess was taken aback as the tiny sheep wrapped her arms around as much of her girlfriend as she could physically grab. Burying her face in her girlfriend’s fluff. Muffling whatever she said next.

“I’m going to carry you home to treat your wounds. I’ll look for your glasses. I won’t stop looking until I find them.”

“You don’t have to. I think I have an old pair at home.”

“Hey!” Cupcake squeaked as the next nuzzle of her chest turned into a passionate lick.

“One more, before I take you home. It’s late.”

Cupcake was too exhausted to argue. She stared up at the sky. Admiring the way the moonlight twinkled in Calliope’s bottomless blue eyes. The way that even the shadows ran and hid from the demigoddess was comforting. Cupcake gripped onto her torn jacket, using it as a blanket.

“Wow! Everything's so...beautiful.” She murmured, her words slurring. The fever set in quickly.  

Cupcake intended to spend the duration of her lengthy recovery snuggled in her girlfriend’s lap.