Lying on the mattress with his arms folded under his head, Apollo thought back to when he was younger and had lived in this room alongside his brother, Sirius. Though those times seemed so far gone, he knew that it really hadn’t been that long since he had seen his brother. It was a matter of months. He had resented his coy-blooded brother for various reasons, but now he felt that if he were to see him again, they would somehow get along. In fact, Apollo felt as if he would really be able to connect with Sirius. The trouble was, he had no idea where he had gone off too, since Apollo himself had disappeared.

He sat up on the bed, brushing silver bangs from his eyes as he cast his gaze around the darkening room. The light outside was beginning to fade even though it was only late afternoon. He stomach seemed to remind him that he hadn’t eaten in awhile, and he moved to the edge of the mattress so that he might get up and wander towards the kitchen. He hesitated there for a moment, however, and studied the abandoned stuffed bear lying on the ground. Haven wouldn’t like it, Apollo figured, but maybe one of the other children? He couldn’t bear to keep seeing it forgotten there.

He barely noticed the soft patter of paws on the floor outside of his room, but turned his head up towards Savina when she greeted him. It had been a month since the last time they had really been around each other. Of course he saw her here and there within Crimson Dreams, but they hadn’t had much of a chance to talk after the fight had occurred. "How’re you holding up?" He asked her, patting the mattress to invite her to sit if she wanted to. He could see the raw, healing scars from the brawl, but they seemed to look fairly decent. Overall, she seemed well enough to him.

A few days later Apollo had gone back to the site of the fight so that he could retrieve his knife. It had taken him quite awhile (especially since a dusting of snow had covered the area) but their scents still vaguely lingered. The blade surprisingly hadn’t rusted and Apollo kept it by his side whenever he went anywhere. He never knew when it would come in handy again.

"That’s good," he replied, nodding as if to affirm his words were true. "I’m sure they’ll heal in time," he added, looking to the scars that Savina’s eyes had traveled to. They were fairly apparent. It was hard not to notice them. But he was sure they would hardly be noticeable in time. After all, Naniko and some others knew of medicine. "Maybe Nani can look at them again…" he suggested, smiling. "Though I’m sure they’ll heal fine. Probably just need a bit more time."



Her turn in conversation surprised him slightly, yet he nodded. He hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her since then. An apology wasn’t really necessary anyhow. Savina meant a lot to the youth. "Don’t mention it." Her next question though, really did surprise him. Subtly he disguised the surprise by fronting a smile. "You don’t remember?" He asked, before continuing. "I found you with the coyote. You managed to get back to Crimson Dreams on your own. I found you there once I returned, and then, well… the rest is history."

"Really?" Apollo asked, not realizing before now that Savina really had suffered some sort of memory loss. He shuffled his posture on the mattress some so that he faced her better. "I didn’t realize that you didn’t remember…" He trailed, furrowing his brows. "Well, I found you with the coyote," Apollo told her, beginning to reiterate the half of the story he knew. "I threw my knife at him to distract him because I knew you needed an escape. At least, I was hoping you’d use the opportunity to escape. I couldn’t tell in the midst of the fight how injured you were, but I had thought that he had scratched you up some." Now he knew the extent of the damage as was clearly visible by the scarring. "He started after me, so I led him on a chase. You got his leg pretty good, though, so he couldn’t keep it up for long. When I lost him, that’s when I headed for Crimson Dreams. Then I found you…" He had never seen Savina like that… they way she had acted on the day of the fight. He silently wondered about it now and worried about her apparent memory loss.

"Savina," Apollo scoffed, "don’t worry about it. I mean, really. I wouldn’t take it that far. I just stole his attention for a minute. I’m sure things would have been fine even if I hadn’t wandered by…" But he let his voice trail off. He knew that her injuries had been significant. And judging by the way the coyote chased after him, he probably wouldn’t have stopped fighting until a more finite conclusion occurred. He knew exactly what Savina was thinking. It would have really been a fight to the death. Had Apollo not had this secret compassion for Savina, had he not felt so protective of her…

He didn’t want to think of that anymore. He took Savina’s speech as an exit. He focused on her words rather than think of the other horror. "A monster?" He said, trying the word out for himself. Whatever had happened that day, Apollo couldn’t explain. Savina hadn’t seemed like herself, but she hadn’t seemed like a monster either. "Maybe it was just the adrenaline?" He wanted to believe that, but he knew there was more than just adrenaline at play. His thoughts were interpreted by what Savina said next, however. "What do you mean?" Apollo asked, furrowing his brows. "What did he do to my father!" He demanded, suddenly furious that this coyote had done something to his father which had upset Savina, and then had the nerve to injure the Italian girl. Had he had a monster inside of him as well, Apollo was sure it would have emerged now.

Her grasp on his wrist kept him grounded and for a moment he wanted to angrily break her fingers away from him. He didn’t care what she said. He really would kill that damned coyote. But he needed to breathe. It was Savina before him, and he knew he could never intentionally hurt her. He listened to what she said and then wrapped his own arms around her when she took him into an embrace. "Savina," he breathed through clenched teeth. "I promise I won’t go there," he told her with every intention of keeping that promise. But if Hybrid ever crossed paths with Apollo outside the piked borders…

"I need to go to my dad. I need to talk to him," he told her, shaking his head slowly. He had never had the greatest relationship with Pilot, but he knew he needed to be there for him. He wasn’t sure who else Pilot had to turn to, aside from Savina. He just needed to make sure he was okay. "Forgive me," he said to her, breaking away from the embrace of her arms and making his way towards the door. "I’m glad your doing better," he added as he turned to face her. "I need to see him, and then I’ll be back," and then he turned to find his father.