“Hello... ‘brother'...” the pterodactyl spat, his every syllable laded to the brim with vitriol, almost as if speaking the words caused the dino’s beak to ache and his very stomach to turn. Anon’s eyes, still wide—and mouth just as widely agape—could only form one name on his tongue… “N-Naser?” There was no answer from Naser. Instead, the dino only continued giving the human a steely, hateful glare. The room went as quiet and as still as a morgue after Anon’s words. As the seconds ticked by, neither human nor pterodactyl spoke another word. The only hint that time had not stopped was the sound of the clock's hands and the faint hum of the fluorescent lights. Stella was the first person in the room to break the silence. “Naser… is that... really you?” she asked, taking a single step forward. As the stego inspected her former classmate and once-upon-a-time top student, she found herself scarcely able to believe what she was seeing. As she tried looking deep into Naser's eyes, she found herself looking into what almost seemed like a void. It was that more than anything that forced her body to move between Anon and Naser, almost as if her instinct warned her that something terrible was about to happen between them. Much like with Anon, Naser disappeared not long after graduating from Volcano High. Unlike Anon, Naser’s departure had less to do with completely falling off the face of the earth and more with his entry into medical school. Everyone knew where Naser would go. They just never expected him to go so soon and so unceremoniously. After four years of absence, to see him standing before her garbed in a doctor’s coat and with a grim look of ice-cold fury sent chills run down her spine. In her mind, she had wanted their reunion to be perfect, her and the others laughing about their lives up to that point. But, of course, considering everything that had happened up to that point, that dream was just that... a dream. Naser redirected his hate-filled stare towards Stella. While downright soft compared to the glower he had on Anon, it nonetheless remained sharp enough to pierce through steel. “Stella,” the ptero acknowledged. “If you don’t mind me asking… what are you doing here with… him...?” he hissed his last words out, almost like it was taking all his willpower to not rush forward and strangle Anon. Stella, swallowing hard and giving a side glance towards Anon, put on the best smile that she could muster on her lips. “Oh, you know, the usual that you’d do with someone you haven’t seen in four years! Catch up, reminisce a bit, be glad that they’re alive...” She took another step to the right, this time getting completely between Naser and Anon. “Stuff like that!” she added with a wave of her hand and a giggle. Naser sighed and put a hand to the ridge of his nose. “Stella… you… haven’t changed at all.” Stella’s brow furrowed a bit. Even so, she still gave her former classmate a broad simper. “Sure haven’t!” she exclaimed, giving Naser a wink while sticking her tongue out. Naser took an ominous step forward. “Stella… I’m only going to say this once. Get out of here.” He again set his glare on Anon. Stella’s smile completely dissolved as she took a step forward and glared at Naser. “No,” she snapped in reply. “Naser… I know that you’re angry at Anon, b—” “ANGRY!?” Naser shouted at the top of his lungs. His raised tone, combined with a contorted grimace of utter wrath, completely interrupted whatever it was that Stella wanted to say, causing her to flinch and recoil backward. “‘Angry’ doesn’t even BEGIN to describe what I’m feeling at this second!” Before Stella could even think of something else to say, Naser took another step forward. As he did, he clenched his fists into white-knuckled fists as he glared fiery daggers at Anon. “Never in my life have I felt the rage I’m feeling at this very instant. Four years; four FUCKING years I’ve carried this!” he pointed an accusatory finger towards the human. “And it’s all because of him! He caused everything to fall apart! Our perfect lives, our perfect futures! If it wasn’t for that... fucker, Fang wouldn’t have run away. If it wasn’t for him, Naomi wouldn’t have dumped me like a piece of trash. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have had to work my ass off so hard to keep my parents from falling further into hopelessness!” He set his gaze back on Stella. “And it’s not only me he fucked over. Trish, Reed, Rosa, even you! EVERYONE would have had a better life if it wasn’t for this self-centered piece of shit!” Despite quaking in her shoes in response to Naser’s outburst, Stella took yet another step forward. Her move put her only inches away from her former classmate's face. It was only at that distance that Stella noticed how much taller Naser had gotten in the last four years. Tall enough that he was on par with his father now. “Anon may be responsible for what happened with Fang… but he’s not to blame for everyone else’s misfortune!” Stella snapped back at Naser, this time poking him in the chest for added emphasis. Naser scoffed and looked at Stella with disbelief. “Are you that deluded? You can trace everyone’s misfortunes back to Anon!” Stella looked like she was ready to start shouting at Naser when Anon suddenly spoke. “Stella,” he started, causing the stego to turn back and look at him. “Naser… Naser’s right...” Stella shook her head in disbelief. Anon only closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Naser… I… I know I don’t have any right to say this… but I’m sorry…” Naser practically shoved his way past Stella to stand right next to the human’s bed. From up above, the pterodactyl fixed the human with a glower so fervent that his amber eyes felt like they could start a fire at any second. As he did, he grasped his hands into fists, the skin on his knuckles threatening to tear from the force. “No. You’re not sorry,” Naser replied before lunging forward and grabbing Anon by the gruff of his hospital gown. With a rage-full lift, he brought the human up so he was at eye level with him. “If you were sorry, you wouldn't have ever shown your face in this town again!” “Anon!” Stella shouted as she rushed forward to try and break Naser’s grip on the human. She wrapped her hands around the pterodactyl's arm, but she found she didn’t have enough muscle to make the arm budge even a millimeter. “Put him down!” she shouted, tears pooling in his eyes as she struggled to separate the human and dino. “Please!" she sobbed. "This… this isn't what friends should be doing to each other...” Naser scoffed in reply to Stella's words. Despite the fury on his face remaining—if not intensifying—he let go of Anon. The human fell back on the bed, coughing and attempting to scramble away from the sizeable pissed-off pterodactyl still standing over him. “...‘Friend’...” Naser repeated in a sickened tone as he stepped away from Anon's bedside. He did not say another word as he snatched the clipboard at the base of the bed and looked it over. After reading it, he seized the top page, crumpling it in his hand and stuffing it in his coat. Without so much as another word, he turned around and opened the door. But before he left the room, he gave Anon and Stella one final glance before walking out and shutting the door. Anon let out a deep breath and let himself collapse. He put a hand on his chest and tried to calm his speeding heart. But, unfortunately, it was easier said than done. Stella fell upon Anon and began checking his body for any injury. When she found none, she let out a massive sigh of relief and sat back down on the nearby couch. Seconds later, she began sniffing as she brought a hand up to her face in a desperate attempt to hold back tears. Despite feeling like he had no right to, Anon again put a hand on his friend's shoulder. Like she had done earlier, the lime stego grabbed the human's hand and cuddled it up to her face. Anon was again taken back by the softness of Stella’s skin. It made his face feel warm and brought him ease. Or at least, as much ease as he could have considered what had happened. Anon looked in Stella’s direction, expecting to see a semblance of a smile or something to tell him that she was alright. Instead, he was only met with a sunken and defeated expression from the stegosaur. “Stella,” Anon started, forcing the stego to look him in the eyes again. “...This… this wasn’t... your fault…” he whispered, all the while gently cradling her cheek. Stella slowly began perking in response to the human’s words. She looked at him with her own light blue eyes. The deeper she looked, though, the damper her eyes got. It wasn’t long before her vision became a hazy mess as tears began flowing. Whatever smile she once carried vanished as the total weight of the last few minutes sunk in. She let another soul-crushing sob, and before the human could say or do anything to comfort his friend, she fell upon his chest, grabbing hold of his arms for support all the while wailing in anguish. Anon wanted so badly to say something to ease Stella’s sadness, but he couldn’t find any words that he could say that wouldn’t be in agreement with Naser. ‘He has every right to hate me,’ he bitterly yet legitimately thought. He had more than earned his former classmate's ire… and a hell of a lot more than that. With no other thought in his mind, he put a hand on Stella’s head in an attempt to comfort her as she cried her heart out… *** Naser stood outside of Anon’s room for about a second before scoffing and walking off in disgust. He couldn’t fathom why Stella would stick by Anon considering he had done everything in his power to scorn her once upon a time. ‘Yet there she stood defending the bastard. Then she dares to cry because I have every right at being angry?’ Naser hissed in annoyance, bringing his fist up in preparation to hit the nearest wall. Instead, he took a deep breath and exhaled. He reached into his coat and pulled out the crumbled-up paper he had taken from Anon’s bed and looked it over again, a grimace forming on his lips. Unlike everyone else, Naser had not once accepted that Anon had gone and died without no one noticing. Deep down in the pterodactyl's heart, he knew the human was too stubborn and spiteful. He had been so confident in that knowledge, he waited, imagining for four years what he would do to the human if he ever saw him again. He again took a deep breath to get his anger under control. He did this now as much as he did when he began medical school right out of high school. But, in a twist of irony that wasn’t entirely lost on him. The same unbridled fury he felt for the human helped him get through his higher education. Begrudgingly, the rage he couldn’t channel towards beating Anon became his fuel. It drove him to work harder than any of his peers, pushing his very natural limits past the point where anyone else would have burnt out. It cost him though, as he eschewed all social connections and any personal growth beyond his medical career. Whereas other peers found friends, even love, with each other, he pushed on with his singular goal. Yet as he got closer to his graduation, a deep fog of uncertainty fell over him. What would he do when he reached his end goal? Where would he go? Graduating not top of the class, but also early earned him calls from hospitals the world over. A ticket to anywhere in the world... yet he chose Volcaldera Bluffs' hospital. The equivalent of working at a convenience store. What had brought Naser back to the very place that he had run away from just a little over two weeks ago? He didn't know. Or least, he hadn't known... until earlier that day, when he had seen Anon’s name and face in the recent admittance records. How he had believed it to be a trick of his imagination. That he would read over the name again only to realize his brain had played a cruel joke on him. That the picture of the bald, almost featureless human he had seen was his wishful thinking and nothing else. But a closer inspection had revealed to him that it was no hoax. Anon was in his hospital, and he was for once in a position of power over the human, his life in his hands. Anon was back into his life... except for the troublesome fact that Anon had returned to his life as a patient… For the first time since finishing medical school, Naser felt great regret at taking the Hippocratic oath. As a doctor, he could not harm anyone. Sure, there wasn’t a technical punishment for breaking the oath, but becoming an oathbreaker wasn’t exactly an appealing prospect. There was also the threat of getting slapped with malpractice. If that happened, then all his struggles and sacrifices graduating from medical school would be for naught. In the absence of a more immediate solution to his problem, Naser came up with a plan. A risky strategy, but one that was his only real recourse. First, Naser had claimed Anon as a sibling. The idea made his stomach churn. It not only meant having to pay for the human's hospital stay out of his own pocket, but it also meant faking a blood relation with the human. Even so, having Anon as his brother on paper gave him a bit more leeway for the next part of his plan, which was to become Anon’s physician. Once he had direct and exclusive access to the human's health, he would be in almost complete authority. From there, all it would take to take care of Anon would be a convenient ‘accident.' Maybe a bit more air would find its way inside of Anon's IV solution. Maybe Anon would need some kind of surgery, at which point one of his major arteries could be ‘accidentally’ severed. Or perhaps Anon would need to ingest some type of medicine, and he would ‘accidentally’ get drugs that were past their expiration date. Even in the best-operated hospitals, accidents happened and were a lot more common than people wanted to admit... With thoughts that shouldn’t live inside of a doctor’s mind, Naser gave the paper in his hand one final confirmatory read before once again stuffing the sheet in his coat. He took a deep breath and buried whatever leftover anger he still had. Then, with his mind fixed on the next part of his plan, he walked up to the second floor’s receptionist. “Good afternoon,” Naser said in a confident, albeit forced, tone. “Afternoon. How can I help you?” the receptionist, an earthen brown gorgosaurus in a blue nurse's outfit, asked without turning away from her computer screen. Naser inwardly scoffed at the receptionist’s rudeness but maintained his smile. “I need to speak to Director Joshua if he’s available.” The receptionist finally looked away from her computer screen and inspected Naser a bit before putting on a simper. “Oh, you’re the new doctor we hired two weeks ago! Naser Aaran, right?” “The one and only,” Naser answered, the smirk on his lips never wavering despite how forced it was. The nurse ran a hand through her short curly black hair as she gave her full attention to Naser. “A lot of talk going around about you!” She said, leaning in a bit closer to the pterodactyl. “Is it true that you graduated one year early?” Naser felt his brow twitch a bit but maintained a polite smile on his lips. “Yes, I did. Wasn’t easy!” He answered. He wanted so badly to grimace at his own words, but he couldn’t let the receptionist pick up on any sign of weakness. The receptionist let out a whistle and went back to typing something on her computer. “Well, congratulations on the D.O. then,” she concluded whatever it was that she was clicking away at and again turned to look at Naser. “So, you want to see if Mr. Joshua is available?” “Yes, that would be very considerate.” The receptionists again perked an eyebrow. “The director is a very busy man. What’s the occasion?” Naser steeled himself for the words that were about to come out of his mouth… “Well, you see, my… brother… recently got into an accident, and he wound up admitted into our hospital.” The receptionist’s expression softened. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. If you don’t mind me asking, is he okay?” Naser had to fight the urge to frown at the reminder. “He’s doing fine! Was out for a while, but he woke up less than an hour ago…” The receptionist perked at hearing the news. “Oh, wonderful!” ‘Yeah, absolutely wonderful...’ Naser thought as he continued to force a grin on his lips. “Unfortunately, he suffered some cranial trauma, so he might be here for a while.” “Oh, so my guess is that you want to transfer his health care to your account?” The receptionist asked Naser “Already did,” Naser answered, the words causing him no short supply of grief. “I feel like I could give him a bit more direct care though, so I wanted to ask the director if I could become his direct physician. At latest until he's ready for his discharge.” The receptionist was silent and stoic for a second before giving Naser a warm smile. “Aw, family really does stick together!” she announced in a sickenly cute voice, one that the ptero couldn't help but compare to his ex-girlfriend's mannerisms. Naser forced himself to grin even wider despite the vile he was feeling churning in his stomach. As the discomfort in his gut grew, he started to worry that he might develop an ulcer. “I’ll go ahead and page the director. Give me a second.” The receptionist said she reached for the phone next to her computer and dialed a number with practiced speed. A few seconds later, the receptionist spoke to the receiver. “Director Joshua? Yes. I have Doctor Naser here wanting to talk to you. Yeah. Says it’s about his sibling who was recently admitted to our hospital. Hmmm. Okay. I’ll send him to you right away then.” The receptionist hung the phone and turned back to Naser. “The director will be waiting for you. His office is on the fifth floor. Take a left after you leave the elevators and head straight. You won’t be able to miss the big double doors to his office.” “Thank you so much,” Naser responded, giving the receptionist a smile and a quick wave before taking off towards the elevators in the foyer. After less than a two minute walk, he reached the elevators and pressed the call button. The elevator only took a minute to arrive. To Naser’s relief, it was empty. ‘Will give my cheeks a chance to rest,’ he thought as he stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the fifth floor. The elevator then took off without a fuzz, traveling at a reasonable pace, all the while playing a pleasant little jingle. As the elevator crawled its way up to the fifth floor, other errant thoughts entered Naser’s mind. He wondered what his parents were up to. He hadn’t seen or spoken to them in four years. Since his return to Volcadera Bluffs two weeks earlier, he still hadn't worked up the courage to even go near his old neighborhood. A part of him felt that he didn’t deserve to face his parents again. How could he when he had failed both as a brother and a son? If he saw his parents again, would they be proud to hear how he graduated so early at the expense of any social and emotional growth? He knew his mother at least wouldn't want to hear that. And of course, there was the biggest elephant in the room, Fang. A part of him dreamed of returning home to find his sister there, waiting with the news that not long after he left for medical school, she changed her mind and came back home. Of course, he knew that was only a dream. Fang vanished so abruptly from everyone's life it was almost as if she had died. The scariest part was that with how Fang left to trace behind, they could very well be dead and no one would ever know… Naser put a hand over his face and fought back some tears threatening to form in his eyes. His lack of knowledge on Fang’s whereabouts tormented him to no end… and he would do anything to just know that she was still alive... ...Anything... Naser forcefully turned his thoughts away from Fang and onto something else. His mind went back to recalling his conversation with the receptionist. Yet as she thought back to the young and somewhat cute gorgosaur, he recalled someone else who also took a chunk of his soul with her when she left him. His high school ex, Naomi... 'God-dammit…’ Naser thought as memories of his ex flooded his mind. How he had loved and cared for her… until she had stopped loving him back. He never understood why she turned so hostile near the end of their relationship. A part of him had always had a suspicion that he desperately wished was false; that she never loved him for who he was, but only for the prestige he brought to her. Blind as he might have been in his younger years, age had brought with it brutal and unforgiving hindsight. In retrospect, he should have seen the signs. Naomi, after all, had always striven to be the best at any one time. Perfectionist to a fault, the moment he showed even a single sign of imperfection, she tossed him aside like a moldy apple in a basket of plum and juicy ones. But like the crazy and loving fool that he was, he couldn’t help but wonder if she was doing good with her life. Surely, if anyone had made something of themselves, it was Naomi... The elevator’s door slid open, and Naser stepped out. He vanished all other thoughts from his mind with an exhale except for those of this most immediate goal. He turned left as the receptionist had instructed and then walked down the hall. The hall itself sported wooden walls. Potted plants and pictures of people that couldn’t be anyone else but members of the board of doctors from years past finished the decor. The added fact that they all sported smiles that seemed superficial only added to Naser’s feeling of unease. As he reached the door, he paused to fix up his coat and ran over his words again. He had come too far to get his words jumbled up and cause hitches to his plans. With a twist of the door handles, Naser stepped into the director’s office. It was a relatively large space on the simple side, the only pieces of furniture being a large old-styled work desk and a pair of desk chairs facing the desk. What parts of the wall weren’t large glass windows made of the same wooding out in the hall leading to the office. Instead, much like the hallway outside, the walls donned paintings of natural vistas and a few medical diagrams on both human and dinosaur anatomy. Sitting on the other side of his work desk was a blue-toned archelon who Naser had to guess had to be somewhere in his early sixties. Yet his estimation could have been wildly off, considering the dino still sported a complete set of black-toned hair and even a small yet well-maintained beard. Mr. Joshua also looked sternly build, his chest broad and shockingly well-toned. Considering that he had to lug around a daily bulky shell, it made sense that the director would be on the burly side. Naser couldn’t help but imagine what his boss would have looked like in his younger years. Maybe something between a linebacker and a marine. Before Naser’s thoughts could drift away further from him, he’s snapped back to reality when director Joshua acknowledges his presence. “Ah, Doctor Naser. What can I do for you today?” With one final inhale, Naser steps forward to the base of director Joshua’s desk. “Good afternoon Doctor Joshua.” “Please, call me Joshua,” the director responded with an amiable smile. Naser cleared his throat. “Well then, Mr. Joshua, I came today because I need to make a request.” The director sighed at Naser's unwillingness to stop being so formal and instead moved on. “Ah yes, the situation with your ‘sibling’...” the elder dino said as he reached into a drawer on his desk and brought out a manilla folder he likely had prepped for when Naser got there. Naser’s eyes widened as he felt ice drop into the pit of his stomach. “Doctor Naser… I have the understanding that you claimed Mr. Anon Y. Mous as your sibling… even though you and he are, well... quite unrelated,” Director Joshua started as he gave the files a read. “It says here that he attended Volcano High for the last six months of his senior year. The same school and same grade level as you.” Naser gave his boss a single nod of acknowledgment. ‘How could I have been so damn stupid?’ he thought to himself as he recalled how every person, no matter how ‘obscure’ they were in the eyes of society, still had a medical record. It wasn’t like they were living in the middle ages anymore, where all it took was moving from one town to another to completely change identities. What was more, Anon had served in the navy before being medically discharged. So he, of all people, would have a medical record on hand. Naser wanted to beat himself up so bad for his stupidity... “So… my understanding of the situation is that this patient is a… dear friend of yours, is he not?” the director inquired bluntly, snapping Naser out of his thoughts. Naser almost recoiled at his boss’ words. Only practiced stoicism kept him from showing anything other than a confirmatory glance towards the director. Director Joshua turned his attention back to Anon’s profile. “Says here, Mr. Mous did not finish school and went straight into the navy’s PACT program. There, he served a four-year tour of duty until suffering an injury on a ladder well. He was then medically discharged two and a half weeks ago.” He closed the manilla folder and put it down. “Sounds like he’s had a rough four years." "That he has, Mr. Joshua," Naser said in his best monotone in an attempt to salvage the situation for himself. Director Joshua narrowed his eyes for a second before suddenly changing gears and smiling quite widely. "No wonder you want to help him out so badly!” he almost cheered unapologetically. Naser couldn’t bring himself to say a word. In his mind, he wanted to snap at his boss and tell him that the last thing he had on his mind was helping the human who turned his whole life upside down. After some more careful consideration though, he gave his boss a nod in reply. "The first thing that comes to your mind on seeing an old friend in need is to help him out. That right there is the true spirit of a doctor," the director said with perhaps a bit more cheer than was necessary. "I'm proud of you, my boy!" he ended his words with a thumb's up. Naser wasn't quite sure what to make of his boss' words, but something about them struck him in a way that he couldn't quite describe. A part of him felt revulsion at the idea of helping Anon do anything besides pay for his crimes. Yet, another part of him felt an odd sense of satisfaction at being the better man by assisting Anon to mend whatever wounds had caused him to become so hollow and pathetic in the first place. Yes, he wanted to see Anon pay for his sins... but did he want to damage someone who was already broken to begin with? For the first time in four years, Naser found himself questioning his own anger... "Standard insurance policy would dictate that I remove Mr. Anon from your medical insurance, but seeing as you went to so much trouble to fill out his paperwork, I’ll let it slide.” The director said with a chuckle, snapping Naser back to reality. “I’ve never been a fan of how insurances see people as only money Anyway. Besides, it’s not exactly illegal. Just unusual.” The archelon sat upright and put both of his hands back on the desk. “I get the feeling though that the insurance coverage situation wasn’t why you wanted to talk to me, though,” he added in a moderately ominous tone. Naser paused to consider what he should do next. His plan was already on very shaky ground; his luck pushed pretty far as it was. He was fortunate that his boss was such an understanding person, but even he would no doubt raise an eyebrow at his request, especially now that the truth was out… Naser gripped his hands tight. ‘No. I’ve come too far now to pussy out,’ he thought resolutely. Maybe it was the rage still burning in him, or perhaps he had really lost his mind from four years of missing out on sleep. Whatever the case, his father hadn’t raised a coward. He was an Aaran, for Raptor Jesus’s sake! “Mr. Joshua, I want to request becoming Anon’s physician,” Naser almost blurted out. The director raised an eyebrow in response to Naser's request. “That is… highly unusual," he said bluntly. "Why do you want to do that?" Naser swallowed a lump in his throat and gave his boss as warm a smile as he could muster. "Anon is... someone dear to me. As his friend, I feel like I'm... uniquely qualified to help him, both physically and emotionally." The director once again looked at Naser with a flat, indecipherable look. "Normally, its the patient who makes a physician request, not the other way around,” he announced, bringing a finger to his chin and closing his eyes in contemplation. For five long seconds, the office went quiet as the director submerged himself in thought. Once those five seconds were up, director Joshua opened his eyes again and gave Naser a warm smile. “Well, seeing as you are already claiming Mr. Anon as your sibling and are paying for half of his medical expenses, I don’t see the problem with you also being his physician. Although...” he rapped his fingers over the desk as his expression soured somewhat. "It reminds me of a similar situation that happened many years ago." "O-oh?" Naser asked almost instinctually. "Yeah," the director continued as he leaned back on his office chair. "Sixty years ago, there was a doctor who also claimed that he had a sibling he wanted to personally oversee. At the time, it was a bit more common, so no one really batted an eye. Then, one week later, the patient died in the middle of an operation. The cause? An accidental rupture of a major artery." The older dino shook his head solemnly as he moved to his computer and typed out something on it. "The doctor in charge of the patient was promptly fired and stripped of all his medical licenses." The director turned to look at Naser again, only this time, much less warmly than before. "Accidents do happen in the medical field, but it is our job as physicians to keep said accidents from becoming more than statistical anomalies. Remember our oath as doctors: share your knowledge, support the unwell and downtrodden, and do no harm." Naser, unable to think or say anything in response to his boss' words, nodded in acknowledgment. With a nod of his own, the director turned back to his computer one more time and quickly typed out something on his keyboard. Five seconds later, he hit the device's final button before again turning back to face the pterodactyl. “Doctor Naser, Mr. Anon is now in your care. All that's left now is to fill out some paperwork.” Naser let out the air he had been holding in his lungs and tried to smile, only to find a part of himself unable to. Finally, through sheer force of will, he forced the corners of his mouth to rise in the closest facsimile of a smile that he could form given the maelstrom of emotion in his heart. “Thank you so much, Mr. Joshua.” “No problem at all, my boy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some more work to get done before the sun sets.” Naser gave his boss a nod and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him as gently as he could. Once he heard the mechanism click, he let out a huge sigh and hobbled towards the nearest wall. He should have been ecstatic. He should have been celebrating the fact that his plan was finally coming to fruition. Finally, four years of misery were close to ending in a single great moment of cathartic retribution against a person who most certainly deserved it, and then some. Yet despite being so close to the finish line, Naser very suddenly felt utterly ill. Without another word or thought from him, Naser moved towards the elevator at a brisk pace, reaching the lift one minute earlier than when he had first sought out the director. Without wasting a second on errant thoughts, he called up the machine. The instant the doors slid open, the dino stepped in, once again finding the compartment empty. As before, the silence gave the ptero mind ample chance to think over what was to happen next. It wasn't long before a voice in the back of his head screamed and begged him to stop and think about what he was planning. 'This isn't who you are,' the voice screamed into his ear. 'What's revenge going to earn you? Will it magically make Fang return home? Will it set right everything that went wrong with your friends and family? Will it really make you happy?' Naser looked down at his shoes and brought a hand up to his face. Then, with another sigh, he leaned against the elevator's walls and closed his eyes. For the first time in four years, the rage that had given him so much purpose feel frail and petty… Naser sighed again and looked down at his hand. With a grim expression, he clenched his hands shut and grimaced with newfound determination. It was time to end it once and for all... *** Anon opened his eyes and groggily looked at the room’s clock. It was exactly one hour and one minute since Naser had so shockingly reappeared into his life. Anon hadn’t thought he’d ever see his ex-classmate again, but fate, it seemed, had a funny way of playing things out. He wasn’t sure if it was his well-deserved lousy luck or some curse cast upon him by Neptune. If it was a curse, then it had to be because of that one time he kicked an albatross off the deck of his ship. He’d been told hundreds of times by his more superstitious comrades that killing a seabird was grounds for a nautical curse. Anon being Anon though, he hadn’t cared for some hookey seaman ghost story. Now though, as he thought back to all that had happened up to his hospitalization. His accident at sea, the dreams of a better life mocking him, his spiral into substance abuse self-destruction, his seeing of Fang once again, and now Naser of all people in the world working in the same hospital he wound up in. Anon couldn’t help but feel like there was something grander out there making sure he started paying all the dues he owed. The human shut his eyes and recalled all of Naser’s words to him. While he would have loved to pretend they meant nothing to him, he knew deep down that they hadn’t been harsh enough. He deserved all the vitriol that Naser could conjure at him and then some more. Anon tried to shift his body around, but then he felt something on top of his body. Turning his eyes down, he spotted Stella’s head lying on top of his waist. Confused at first, he carefully slid a hand out of his covers and moved to poke one of his friends’ green hair buns. He paused when he heard a snort escape from the stego's mouth. Blinking a few times to process the scene before him, Anon followed Stella’s body and noticed how she had shifted the sofa next to his bed so that it now faced his bedside rather than the room’s entrance. With the new position, she was able to plop her head and chest over him more comfortably, her face directed at the door, almost as if serving like some kind of watch dog. Anon sighed and shook his head. ‘She pours out her heart to me, and next thing I know, she’s doing something like this…’ At that thought, Anon found himself struggling to piece together how Stella could like someone as socially dense as he was. ‘And not like as a friend either,’ he thought in surprise. The absolute last thing he had expected to hear that day was how Stella had liked him as more than a friend back in high school. It was a heck of a lot more than he deserved even back then. His more cynical side wanted to believe that Stella’s revelation was a spur-of-the-moment type of thing. That she got her words confused with some anime quote and only wanted to make him feel good before once again departing from his life. Yet as he stared at the sleeping dino on his lap, that cynical voice was having a harder time convincing him otherwise. The human tried to think what was it about him that Stella liked. The obvious answer would have been their shared love of anime, but Anon felt that wasn’t quite the answer. Both Stella and himself hadn’t exactly been the shining beacons of popularity four years ago. Could it have been their shared status as social outcasts? Stella always seemed to have a way of making others avoid her, no doubt thanks to her general awkwardness and obsession with the occult. As for Anon… aside from being the only ‘skinny’ in a school of dinos, there had also been the whole doxing incident. In fact, that damned incident had very nearly cost him his life when he took that tumble down the stairs. ‘If it hadn’t been for Fang that day…’ Anon paused in his tracks. He'd almost forgotten in the chaos of his last few days that there had been someone else who liked him once upon a time. Someone that, despite all their flaws and shattered outlook on their own existance, had still found it in their hearts to love him all the same... ...At least until he fucked it all up in a drunken stupor... Anon took another look at Stella and grimaced. A nasty taste began to fill his mouth as he realized that he didn't deserve Stella's kindness. 'After all, people don't change... so I'm only going to end up fucking things up for her...' he thought as he put a hand on the stego's shoulder. 'I deserve my current misery. No need to drag someone else down with me as well.' Before Anon could shake Stella awake, the door to his room swung open. Almost as if startled awake by an electrical prod, Stella jumped awake, turning to face the door and once again placing herself between the human and whoever had just dared intrude into the area. As she did all that, her face twisted into a scowl and her hands curled into fists. "Woah!" an orange-toned ankylosaur in a florally adorned black dress yelped, raising her hands up defensively. "¡¿Que hice para enojarte, Stella?!" Rosa shouted as she took a step backward. Upon seeing her friend's face, Stella relaxed her pose and expression before letting out a huge sigh of relief. Before Rosa could say another word—or think about anything really—the stegosaur rushed forward to tightly embrace the orange dino, all the while sniffling as whatever anger she once had dissolved as happiness took over. Rosa blinked a few times before patting Stella on the back. "There, there, mija. Whatever's wrong, it's okay..." Stella nodded and broke the hug before walking back to Anon's bedside, where she again sat down on the couch and leaned back with a groan. Rosa let out a slight chuckle as she closed the door behind her and set her eyes on Anon. The moment she did, her expression considerably brightened at seeing her old classmate awake and lucid. "So... An-On... it's uh..." Rosa started, all the while rubbing the back of her head and giving the human a wide simper. "...Ha pasado mucho tiempo... ¿no?" It takes a few moments for Anon to translate Rosa's Spanish in his head. When he does, he gives the orange dino a nod of acknowledgment but says not a word. Rosa began fidgeting a bit with her hands, seemingly unsure of what to say or do next. Finally, after a few seconds of awkward silence, she let out a sigh and walked right up to Anon's bedside. "May I?" She asked the human, who considered the dino's word for an attosecond before nodding. With Anon's blessing, Rosa sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to sit on his leg. Only once she found a seat did she let out the breath she had been holding in her lungs and looked Anon in the eyes. "Look, An-On... I'm... I'm having trouble trying to figure out what to say here," she started in an uneven voice, almost as if she was struggling to keep her tone consistent. "I-I mean..." She grimaced as she leaned closer to the human's face. "¡Pense que estabas muerto!" she abruptly shouted, her eyes slightly shimmering in the sterile light of the room and her cheeks reddening from a mixture of emotion. "Stupido! First, y-you stop going to school! Then you disappear completely! Then no one sees or hears anything from you for four years. FOUR YEARS! And then... and then you suddenly show up again... b-but all beat up and... and..." she scowled, all the while more tears welled in her eyes. "¡¿Quiénes fueron los cabrones que te malmataron?!" she asked, her face only growing a darker shade of red. "When I find them, I'm going shove my chancla up their asses so far up they're going to be tasting leather for at least a month!" Anon shifted his eyes towards Stella in the vain hope of glimpsing some kind of answer from the lime green stego. She had taken the revelation that his attackers had been none other than himself relatively well, but Stella was Stella, and she really hadn't changed much in the last four years. Rosa, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He had no idea how she would handle the revelation that the one who had beat him up had been himself. If she was still the same fiery latina he remembered, then she would beat him back into another coma, all the while holding a great deal of disappointment in him... which, frankly, he found far worse than any anger she might have towards him. When Stella only gave Anon a warm smile and a nod, the human came to the conclusion that he might as well face the music. He just hoped that the orange fury he recalled Rosa being capable of becoming had considerably dulled over the last four years... "About that..." Anon started, setting his eyes directly into Rosa's crimson orbs. Then, with a deep breath of air and what little resolution he had wrangled into place, Anon narrated to Rosa just what had happened to him. He left nothing out, from the dreams to his overindulgence in alcohol and weed, and finally to his self-inflicted injuries. Anon could practically feel the heat rising within Rosa. With one last exhale, he closed his eyes and prepared himself to receive the beating of his life... ...Instead, Rosa let out a sob and grabbed Anon by the shoulders, bringing him in for a tight yet gentle embrace, her head resting on top of his head as her soft brown hair draped over Anon's cranium. "¡St-stupido!" She shouted as she tightened her grip around the human's head. "Y-you stupid, STUPID boy! Hiding away your pain and thinking that you're all alone in the w-world!" she let out another sob, Anon feeling something wet hit the top of his bald head. "It's okay An-On... everything's okay... estoy aqui for you..." Anon sat speechlessly. In his mind, he tried to rationalize why Rosa, of all people, would be as lovingly welcoming as she was being. He hadn't precisely been friendly towards the Hispanic dino in the past. If anything, he had been rude and dismissive. Perhaps not to the same level as he had been with Stella, but certainly enough to ensure that the ankylosaur would view him as nothing less than an asshole. Yet, despite having given her every right to shun him, there she was, embracing him like he was the most precious thing in her world at that moment. Anon couldn't handle it. He broke away from Rosa's embrace and gently pushed her away from him. "Why?" he asked her, unable to keep his emotion from showing. "Why are you being so nice to me?" Rosa's expression soured at Anon's words. "Why am I being so nice?" She asked with a growing scowl on her face. "Why am I being so nice!?" she repeated, this time standing up from the bed and crossing her arms. Anon glanced sideways towards Stella, who only gave Anon a cheeky little smile that more or less said, 'you've done it now.' "Tell me An-On, are you really so pessimistic as to think that there wouldn't be anyone happy to see you again!?" Rosa roared at Anon in the same way that one would expect to hear from a mother scolding her child. "I don't know what kind of appalling life you've had since dropping out of school, but I'll have you know that I NEVER once saw you as anything less than an amigo!" She again leaned close to the human and fixed him with a harsh yet somehow caring glower. "Si, you were often rude and distant and definitely in need of some lessons in empathy, but deep down, I knew that wasn't the real you!" the orange dino sighed again, and her expression and tone dropped. "The doxing incident... it was pretty shameful... but it showed to me why you were so cold and distant and unemotional and willing to distance yourself from everyone... and I'm so, SO sorry something like that happened to you..." Anon was now the one to grow angry, his brow furrowing as he glared at Rosa. "Why would you be sorry about me? Why did you even give me the time of day when you knew how terrible and pathetic I really am?" "BECAUSE—" Rosa shouted back, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red to match her eyes. Before she could say anything else, she shut her mouth and let out a silent yell before closing her eyes. "Porque vi lo bueno dentro de ti..." "W-what?" Anon asked, not quite sure if he had heard correctly. Rosa breathed and fixed Anon with a stalwart yet gentle gaze. "The first time I met you, you were just some idiota that ruined my flowers and couldn't even plant seedlings right! Que Raptor Jesus me perdone por decir esto, but I honestly expected to hate you! Yet, the more I got to know you in those beautification weekends and beyond, the more I realized that the front of callousness you built for yourself wasn't who you really were, and I..." she turned away from the human, the red on her cheeks growing brighter. "...I started to think to myself... 'este hombre solo necesita una buena chica a su lado para brillar...'" She grit her teeth and turned back to face Anon. "I-I know it sounds stupid. Childish even! But the idea of helping you surpass all your problems and support you as you became el hombre that I knew was buried somewhere inside was..." She again closed her eyes, a warm smile spreading across her lips. "By my lord on his cross of rock, was it a stupid childish idea that only niños could come up with! Como si el amor fuera realmente asi de facil..." Having sat in silence as Rosa poured out her heart out to Anon, Stella now had a look on her face somewhere between extreme astonishment and dainty melancholy. She didn't quite know how to feel about her friend's revelation on her feelings for Anon back in high school. Had the stego been a more jealous woman, she would have felt some anger at the disclosure. Yet, with how heartfelt Rosa had been, the only thing she felt was understanding, as well as a sense of relief. Relief that she wasn't alone in her past feelings towards Anon. Anon, meanwhile, could barely wrap his head around what he had just learned from Rosa. The more the human tried to make sense of it, the more it baffled him. 'With Stella, I can understand. We were and still are weebs and still are awkward. We were loners looking for friends and someone to love us. But Rosa? Rosa and I just weren't compatible in high school. She was the polar opposite of everything I strove to be!' Anon thought as he gave the orange ankylosaur a look of disbelief. Perhaps realizing the kind of emotional bomb she had dropped on the scene—or maybe thinking that the conversation was best steered elsewhere—Rosa cleared her throat and turned to face Stella. "So, bichita," she started, the redness of her cheeks still visible despite her best attempts to move past the moment. "Now that we know that An-On's okay... wanna go get some food? Maybe change out of that tracksuit you've been wearing all day?" Stella's expression expectantly soured. "No," she replied bluntly. Rosa raised an eyebrow and shifted her head back a bit. "No? ¿Por que?" Stella looked to Anon, her eyes again filling with the anger, sadness, and pain from earlier that day. Her sight hung over the human for about a second, during which time she seemed to debate whether she wanted—or rather needed—to tell her friend of the complicated situation brewing. Meanwhile, while a good part of Anon's brain told him to not do anything to encourage more grief from Stella, the human knew that in this particular case, hiding the truth wasn't in anyone's favor. Gently, he grabbed hold of Stella's hand and gave her a nod of confirmation. Before the stego could open her mouth to speak, Anon turned to face Rosa and spoke for her. "We met Naser earlier. He's a doctor in this hospital." Rosa's eyes widened as a smile formed on her lips. "Naser's here!?" she asked with glee. "¡Ay Dios mio! ¡Esto es maravilloso! That means we can all reconnect with him and see how he's doing and what he's bee—" "He attacked Anon!" Stella interrupted Rosa before the ankylosaur could go any further with her statement. Rosa's expression did a 180 in a matter of nanoseconds. Where before she looked giddy and rapturous, on hearing Stella's words, her face twisted into a scowl of anger, her very eyes suddenly glowing with fury. "¿¡Hizo QUE!?" the now-ranging orange dino shouted so loudly that it was surprising there hadn't been a nurse or some other hospital staff rushing in to see what all the commotion was about. Stella stood up and rushed to her friend's side. "Rosa!" Stella started, all the while putting a hand on the ankylosaur's shoulder. "R-remember what we talked a-about!" Rosa shot a glare towards Stella, but rather than grow angrier, the dino shut her eyes tight and let out several hard and steamy snorts. When at last she was no longer fuming, the ankylosaur turned her full attention to Stella. "Tell me everything!" Over the next half hour, Stella and Anon took turns telling Rosa everything that had happened before her arrival. They started from Anon's miraculous awakening thanks to Stella's terrible anime openings, followed up by stegosaur's heart to heart with the human—complete with a recreation of her less than adequate but still well-meaning speech quoting Kamina from Gurren Laggan—to Naser's arrival and his all-encompassing resentment towards Anon. Rosa's fury reached its peak when Stella repeated all of the terrible things the pterodactyl shouted in his anger. By the time Anon and Stella finished their tale, Rosa looked like she was ready to march out of the room to personally hunt down Naser and bring upon him the wrath of her dreaded chancla. Stella looked just as keen to bring down fire and fury upon Naser, her previous sadness now turning into a fiery sense of righteous wrath that the human couldn't deny made him—for lack of a better term and most certainly taking the word from much smarter and funnier men than he was—scaroused. The absurdity of having two pissed-off girls who had admitted to having once liked him as more than a friend ready and willing to go on a warpath on his behalf wasn't at all lost on him, and it only compounded his confusion and guilt. Regardless of what either Stella or Rosa thought on the matter, Anon felt he deserved every bit of Naser's wrath. Of course, he would have an easier time convincing a brick wall to move aside than convincing either of the former Volcano High garden club leaders that Naser was in the right for being so furious. Anon couldn't help but sigh in frustration. 'So much for keeping my head low and living the rest of my life as the pariah, I really am...' Both Rosa and Stella turned to look at Anon, their eyes filled with a mixture of righteous fierceness and deep solicitude. "We're gonna go find Naser and give him ¡La chancletada de su vida!" "Oui!" Stella added in her native French. "He's soon going to learn what it means to mess with team Fleuriste!" Rosa turned to look at Stella with a slight frown. "Team Fleuriste? No, no, no! That just won't do!" Stella deflated somewhat at hearing her friend's comment, reminding Anon of the times when he had called the lime stego a weirdo. 'Something I never really apologized for and probably should,' Anon embarrassingly thought, making a mental note for later. "What's wrong with Team Fleuriste?" Stella asked meekly. "It's a catchy name, and it fits us to a T since we're florist and whatnot." "Yeah, but that's exactly why it doesn't work," Rosa retorted, putting a hand on Stella's shoulder in a show of support. "If we're going to have a team name, it has to be something that tells people '¡Cuidado! ¡No te metas con esas chicas!'" Stella put her hands behind her back and under her tail in contemplation. "I guess that is a good point..." She set her light blue eyes on her friend's ruby eyes. "I did think of using the name 'Stardust Crusaders,' but that would be... maybe a bit too flashy?" Rosa snorted out a laugh. "That sounds like the name of an awful eighty's hair metal band." "Actually, it's from this one show called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," Stella added excitedly. "It's really cool and I think you would like it!" Rosa raised an eyebrow. "JoJo? ¿Que tipo de nombre estupido es ese?" "Actually, I'll have you know that it's an epic seven-part story abo—" "¡Enfocate!" Rosa shouted, curring Stella off much to Anon's endless gratitude. "We are not using 'Stardust Crusaders' for our team name!" Stella puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. "Fine. What's your suggestion then?" The ankylosaur tapped her chin in contemplation for five seconds before snapping her fingers and smirking. "Team '¡Tres Estrellas!'" Rosa almost yelled out, all the while flexing her arm with a wide grin on her lips. Anon, with a raised eyebrow, was the one to speak this time. "Team 'Three Stars'?" he asked in a deadpan tone. "What does that even imply?" Rosa, smiling broadly, turned to face Anon. "Si!" she replied, all the while still fleshing her arm. "There are tres people here: Me, Stella, and you. One star for each of us! Anon put a hand on the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me this isn't a reference to—" "Dragon Ball Zeta!" Rosa practically roared, interrupting Anon's words. On hearing Rosa's explanation why she wanted to use the name 'three stars' for their hypothetical team, Anon very much wanted to unhook the IV still attached to his arm and use it as a makeshift noose. 'As if one weeb wasn't enough, now I find out that Rosa of all people likes DBZ...' The human then paused for a second as realization hit him and chuckled once he really gave it a good think-over. Of course, Rosa would share at least one interest with Stella, and DBZ was unequivocally popular in Latin countries. Even so, he never pegged the orange florist for being a big enough fan to reveal her power level so casually. 'Learn something new every day, I guess,' Anon thought, wondering just what other revelation he would be witness to that day... Just then, and almost as if his thoughts tempted some sort of mischievous trickster god out to make everyone's life all the more confusing, Naser opened the door and stepped into the room. As he did, he again fixed Anon with a glare. Yet, it was nowhere near as nasty as it had been earlier. It felt forced, like something he struggled to maintain despite his mind and spirit being in entirely different places. Stella wasted no time in once again stepping in front of Naser's sight, almost as if the presence of her actuality would somehow keep Naser from recognizing Anon was even lying on the bed. Rosa, meanwhile, turned beet red as she marched up to the pterodactyl and looked up into his eyes with a scornful glower that embodied the old saying, 'if looks could kill...' Naser let out a scoff as he returned the orange dino's death glare. "Good to see you too, Rosa." Rosa responded to Naser's words with a slap across his face, the speed and fierceness of the blow causing the ptero to stagger back as he put a hand on his cheek. "¡Eso es por lastimar a Anon," Rosa hissed through clenched teeth. Naser, after recovering some of his composure, glowered at Rosa before allowing himself an exhale. He then straightened his posture and adjusted his white coat. "Okay. I deserved that," he muttered just loud enough for everyone present in the room to hear. "Glad to know you're still as fit as I remember," the dino addressed Rosa with a mixture of sentimentality and comfort. He turned to face Stella, a tiny grin forming on his lips. "My guess is that you also want to hit me." "I'm VERY tempted to!" Stella snapped at Naser, her body refusing to budge from her defensive position over Anon's bed. As he turned to look between Stella and Rosa, Naser couldn't help but feel great resentment. He turned his full attention to Rosa, who he viewed as the more physically imposing of the trio in the room. "Why are you taking Anon's side," he asked, his voice astringent yet shockingly lax despite the current situation. "You know very well what he did." Rosa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Si. I know what happened between Anon and Fang. Y si, I know exactly what it led up to." Naser's brow furrowed as he took a step closer towards Rosa. "If you know the truth, then why in the name of Raptor Jesus are you protecting him?" "Because..." Rosa started, giving Anon a glance before turning her attention back on Naser. "...Because I believe in An-On!" the ankylosaur said as she took a step forward, all the while keeping her glare squarely on her former classmate. "Because he's suffered just as much as you have. Because despite having a ticket to anywhere in the world, he came back to us!" "So he returned to the scene of his crime! That doesn't mean he's sorry or that he's changed!" "¿Y tu que sabes sobre cambio?" Rosa asked at the top of his lungs. Naser paused his thoughts in his tracks as Rosa's question pierced through all his mental defenses. Try as he might, the question rattled in his head as he the pterosaur tried—and failed—to plan some sort of retort. He had changed, yes, but for all the worst reasons... The once bright and all-around honor student of Volcano High had forced himself to become a friendless, spite-fueled doctor who took the first job that he could in Volcadra Bluffs not because it was what he wanted, but because it was what he felt he needed to do. Whereas he would have once gone for a higher sense of purpose with his career, he instead settled for the bare minimum, not caring that refusing to chase the greatness that so many had once seen in him killed his very soul. And what was worse, the anger and hatred of Anon—someone he had once considered a good friend—drove him to consider breaking his oath as a doctor... Was that all that he really was? A bitter man willing to throw anything and everything away in search of revenge that at best would prove hollow and at worst would leave him no better than Anon was? "I... I..." Naser mumbled as he attempted to form words in his mouth. With a grunt, he turned away from everyone's eyes and hit the nearest wall with his fist. The ptero then hit the wall again and then a third time. When he moved to hit the wall a fourth time, he abruptly stopped and let his first hover over the wall for a second before opening up his palm and placing his open hand on the wall. Less than a second later, he let his whole body sag. Naser suddenly felt a hand rest upon his shoulder. Naser perked his head and glanced at the extremity placed upon his being, expecting it to be orange or lime-green in tone. Instead, it was pink and distinctively scaleless. Slowly, the ptero turned to face the owner of the hand, who was none other than Anon. Despite still being weak of body and sporting a battered, bandaged face, the human had risen from his bed, IV stand in hand and a look that held so many emotions contained within—from sorrow, to understanding, to grim determination—and had walked up to the one person in the world that had both the strength and desire to kill him. "Naser..." Anon started in as gentle a voice as he could summon. "I... I know I don't deserve to speak to you..." he glanced towards Rosa and Stella, both of whom stood by with stunned looks on their faces. "I don't deserve to direct even a single word at any of you..." he turned back to face Naser, all the while maintaining his hand on his shoulder. "...But I have to say this..." Naser said nothing to the human, only fixing him with a tired glare. Anon took a deep breath and grimly looked on at his former classmate and friend. "I... I know I fucked up. Fucked up real bad. I know what I did to your sister that night led to so many people losing their way... and not a single day has passed by since then that I don't regret my choice to run away from the world like a bitch..." The human removed his hand from the ptero's shoulder. "I'm... I'm done running. I'm done hiding and letting life pass me by because I'm a little cowardly bitch who can own up to his mistakes as a man would. I know my word probably means little to you... but I can at the very least promise that I'll find a way to set it all right. Even if it means I have to sacrifice everything I have left, I WILL fix my fuck-up..." Naser looked deep into Anon's eyes. At first, he was convinced the human was playing some kind of joke on him; that he was lying to find another way to hurt him more. But the deeper the dino gazed into the human's eyes, the more evident it became that Anon wasn't lying... The pterosaur let out another bitter chuckle and he stepped back from the human and right into the wall. "Anon... your promise doesn't even matter..." tears shimmered in Naser's eyes as he began taking uneven and raspy breaths. "Fang's... gone. No one's seen them... in four years. I... I don't even know if they are still alive..." At Anon's words, the dam finally broke for Naser. A bitter waterfall began streaming down the ptero's face, one whose flow he couldn't halt no matter how many times he wiped his eyes. As the dino stared into the human's eyes, his expression changed from grief to wrath, to confusion, and finally into a near-incomprehensible rage. Almost instinctually, and without any warning, the ptero reached up for Anon's throat, both hands wrapping themselves around the human's neck and squeezing down with such intensity that the skin slowly began turning purple. Stella and Rosa's very breath left their lungs as they saw Naser's actions. The two began rushing forward, only to stop when they saw Anon gazing on at them shaking his head despite the tears of agony forming in his eyes… Naser's lips turned into a grin as he began squeezing tighter and tighter. He had the hated human where he wanted him, his hands slowly and painfully squeezing the life out of his hated enemy. 'Fang, this is for you. Your big brother's going to get payback for you. This is what you'd want...' '...Right...?' Naser's mind stopped for a second as his own words rebounded within his skull. Little by little, he realized where his hands were and what he was doing, at which point another voice, one far older and wiser than his, echoed in his mind... *'Share your knowledge, support the unwell and downtrodden, and do no harm.'* 'Do no harm,' Naser thought to himself as he looked down at his hands still gripped around Anon's neck. "Do no harm..." he whispered just barely audibly enough for both his ears and Anon's. The ptero looked up at the human's eyes, only to realize they were slowly rolling upwards into the back of his eye sockets. He was so close. Just another squeeze and Anon's neck would snap... Realization hit Naser like a bag of bricks, and his hateful rage turned to shame. 'I'm killing Anon...' he thought as more tears formed in his eyes. 'I'm... I'm killing my old friend...' Naser released Anon from his grip and put his hands on the human's shoulders. Anon, meanwhile, breathed a great sigh of relief as he tried his best not to cough away the pain in his neck. The ptero slowly looked up into the human's eyes again, a stinging smile plastered on his lips. It seemed as if he needed to say something... but whatever those words may have been, they were lost when he began sobbing. A full minute passed with the dino neither able to speak or stop crying. Only when the ptero felt he had expunged every last tear in his system, he patted Anon on the shoulder and began walking towards the door. "I'm a failure. As a man, a brother, and a friend," he whispered without so much as meeting anyone's gaze. "I'm... sorry. For... everything..." Anon ran a hand over the quickly bruising spot on his neck and put on a determined face. "Naser!" he called out just as the ptero reached for the door. "Fang is alive." Naser stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face Anon with eyes open wide. "W-what d-did you say?" he wearily asked in a coarse voice. "Fang is alive," Anon repeated, his own voice turning raspy. "I saw them two weeks ago. They're still in Volcadera Bluffs. Somewhere." Naser put a hand over his mouth and staggered backward once again. The moment he hit a solid surface, he began sliding down onto the floor. Thirty seconds went by where the entire room was silent except for the sound of Naser's heart furiously beating. Then, very gently, the pterodactyl began to chuckle. It was quiet and faint at first, but gradually, the laughter turned louder and more ardent. In the expanse of thirty seconds, the dino laugher turned to bewailings. Unlike his last cries, though, there was a hint of joy in these new sounds. Perhaps the first bit of genuine joy he had experienced over the previous four years. Before he could stop himself, Naser broke into full-on wails. Naser’s howls weren't those of sorrow or defeat or incredible loss, however...