***
The obsidian wizard had gone for a little bit, and it was just the Roc and Connie--who hadn't had a meaningful conversation in years.
"Roc... I--I'm really sorry. This is all my fault. I've been thinking... You should let me die. You should let me die so you can kill my father."
The Roc cawed in protest. And something happened then. The Roc had to be human. He had to be human now so he could talk his brother out of the poor decision he was about to make.
The Roc's body slowly shifted, and he became Connie. "I would never kill you!"
Connie was stunned. "You're... me..."
The Roc-Connie threw his arms around his brother. "If you ask me that again, I'll never forgive you!"
Connie's eyes were graced with tears as he said, "you know, I'm going to be dead soon anyway. The limestone is spreading. Roc, you have to let me go..."
"I'll never let you go! I'd be just a dumb bird without you!" The Roc's arms tightened around Connie and Connie shook his head with a soft smile.
"I'm going to live my life as a bargaining tool who advocates for the oppression of all creatures of Dru. I'd rather die now with some dignity rather than later with all these overworked deaths on my conscience. In the end, the creatures of Dru are just stone. We'll break apart and become overgrown with limestone and die. But you--you're something special. You should always be around to watch over us. You'll be here a long time. Far longer than me." Connie told him happily, returning his embrace lovingly.
"But I don't want you to go. I want you always to be here to guide me!"
"You'll always remember me, won't you? I'll be there with you always, that way. You remember all the things I taught you? You remember how much I love you?" Connie murmured softly.
The Roc nodded. "I'll always remember."
***
"I ate the obsidian wizard, and then the flame he rigged to Connie's heart enveloped it. He just fell over..." Annabelle-Roc shook his head. "He deserved better..."
Clarice was in tears. "I'm so sorry..."
"Nobody compared to him, and nobody ever will. I wanted to be human like he was. I found this wizard later on who said I could get rid of my bird form entirely if I stayed in Connie's form long enough. I tried to. I really tried to. I wanted to be him so badly. But it started to hurt after a long time, and I had to change back.
Then Annabelle came along, and I fell in love with her. If anyone compared to Connie, it was her."
Clarice shook her head angrily. She realized, now, that she had been in love with this man named Connie, and not the pale version of him the Roc represented. She couldn't believe that he would compare the warmonger, Annabelle, to Connie.
"She forced you to go to war! That's why you closed your heart!" Clarice said with angry tears.
The Roc shrugged. "Am I... Not allowed to love a creature's imperfections? Am I not allowed to love my brother's cursed weakness when he let himself be bullied into death by our Father? Am I not allowed to love Annabelle's weakness when, after being my neutral charge for so long, she used my affections to convince me to fight against the Haalanites in favor of Yab? It's an evil sewn into the souls of every creature on Dru. They will always succumb to weakness. The moment the creature's of Dru grew a heart was the moment evil could take it at any moment. The obsidian wizard was the first creature to grow a heart."
The Roc was thoughtful as he closed his eyes. "It's true Annabelle broke my trust and my heart--but what of you? Do you have a story to make me believe in the goodness of the creatures of Dru?"
Clarice had tears in her eyes. She had spent her lonely life pining after a man who was dead. But... She had friends now. She had grown.
She said to the obsidian wizard, "I have nothing... I have never had anything. I am a woman who has lived her life in isolation because she was not fit to live with and love others. I have never known how to get along and communicate with others. I have always fought with them. I was always... So angry. I was angry that both my parents died and left me alone. I was angry that I had nowhere to turn but the army. I was angry that I could make no friends in the army. But now... I have opened my heart again. I have found friends. There is more to my life than wishing that you would come to rescue me from my eternal loneliness. And so, I have opened my heart again. Will you open yours?"
Annabelle-Roc was unsure. He was deathly quiet. It was a minute before he finally said, with tears and strength in his eyes, "I have learned kindness and naivety from Connie, strength and betrayal from Annabelle... Can you teach me to open my heart like you have yours? Can you teach me to heal? I have been ravaged by war. I can't get it out of my eyes. What is it about me that made me your only friend for so long?"
Clarice looked down with a gentle smile. "Your kindness. You were always willing to help those in need. I believe you will help now. Show us. Show everyone you believe in us! Your heart will open when you share your kindness with he world again. Defend us against this monster; not because we wish to kill, but because we wish to live! We need you for that! Bring back the sun, please!"
Annabelle-Roc's eyes were glistening and he smiled and then shifted back into Connie. He grabbed Clarice's hands. "You're right! I need some of Connie's kindness and naivety to survive! I need to believe as much as you mortals do! I have rested too much on Annabelle's strength and hard heart. She may have used my naivety to convince me to go to war--but now, I will help you because it is the right thing! I forgot about the right thing... Connie would be ashamed. I need you to back me up, however. Will you do it, sweet lady?"
Clarice nodded and blushed a little. Her friends were exhausted and still sleeping soundly, but now she roused them. She said to them, "we're going to save everyone!"
***
The Roc ate the obsidian wizard and the flame rigged to Connie's heart enveloped it. The Roc was there for his last dying words.
"Hey, Roc..." Connie said, his eyes becoming pale.
"What is it? The Roc has shifted into a form identical to Connie's once again and held his brother's head in his lap. "Don't go..."
"It was so nice being in the sun with you..." Connie completed. "Nobody else in the whole world would have ever cast a light upon me. I'm so blessed. I didn't have to die in loneliness and anonymity. So many people die lonely. You opened my heart, you know? I don't feel like I'm made of stone anymore."
And it was true. Connie was now made of flesh and bone as the Roc held him in his arms.
The Roc nodded with tears in his eyes and smiled. "You opened mine too..."
"Now, everyone can live in the sun with you. Not just me..."
The Roc never wanted anyone to be in the sunlight with him after that, however. He lived by Connie's word and the morals he taught him, but could never open his heart to anyone else again until he met Annabelle.
But, things were different now. The Roc was ready to be with the creatures of Dru again. He was ready to fight for them against the Wicked Goddess.
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