Niko was never very good at jumping. 

Now, normally that wasn’t much of a problem, something he could get around by simply walking places. 

But, when it came down to life or death, a chasm of violent flames separating him from his one avenue back to normal life, he found he should have practiced more. 

With the most desperation fueled jump he’d ever tried, Niko found he was just one foot too short in his momentum. 

Flames licked at his feet as he flew through the air, arms stretching toward that unattainable goal across the small gorge of death below his airborne body. 

He knew all too soon he wasn’t going to make it. 

The last thing he saw before he fell below the cliff face was the smirking face of his best friend, Jordan. 

Niko made sure to add ex-best friend to that name the second he saw the guy who’d just ensured his death, smiling like he’d just won the biggest stuffed animal at the fair. 

He also made sure Jordan saw the middle finger as it descended to the inferno below. If he was going to die, Jordan was going to get flipped off. Not really a fair trade, but he didn’t have anything to throw at the moment. 

Niko didn’t scream. What was the point? He knew what was waiting below, so instead of dwelling on the inevitable, he closed his eyes and thought of a soft field filled with wildflowers and brimming full of long grass that felt like clouds against your skin. 

It wasn’t a real field, at least not one Niko had ever seen before. It was the first thing that brought him comfort when he tried to think of a safe place. Somewhere naturally beautiful, filled with soft greens and pretty colors. 

He smiled as he plummeted to his death, not having a care in the world that this was the last thought he would be capable of making before the pain would consume them all. 

With the heat inching ever closer, Niko felt a sharp sting hit his body, gasping as the first of the flames must have finally reached him. 

It felt like being stabbed in every cell, fire rushing through your blood as all you could do was writhe in agony, not even capable of screaming without choking on that all consuming pain. 

At fast as it came, however, Niko felt it recede, his body landing on something soft and itchy. 

He was heaving, sweat pouring off of him as he finally opened his eyes. 

What had happened, he wasn’t on fire, despite feeling like he had been just moments ago. 

His eyes found the imagination he’d been conjuring in his head, the field surrounding him as though he had never been in that chasm to begin with. 

“What…?” He muttered, looking around at the strange place he’d somehow wound up in. 

“Hello? Can you hear me? Is this thing working?” Quick questions flew at him from the side, drawing his eyes as he found a small, floating flower that glowed an ethereal pink. The voice was female, and when he looked closely, he found a small, female face on the flower, as though she were a tiny person wearing an entire blossom as clothes. 

“Who are you?” He asked, leaning back a bit as she floated closer. 

“Can you understand my speech?” She asked, sticking to just one question that time. 

“Yes.” He answered, prepared to run the moment she turned into some kind of monster that would eat him. 

“Good. I was worried the cats lied to me when they said it would work for all languages.” She smiled, tiny face glowing brighter as she floated around his head. 

“Who are you? Do you know where we are?” It was Niko’s turn to ask the questions, he’d decided. 

“Oh! How silly of me! My name is Plu, and this is your garden, I believe.” She made a little bow at her name, flitting around in strange patterns as she spoke. 

“My garden? What do you mean?” Niko didn’t remember having a garden, let alone one so integrated with the natural wilds. 

If anything, this was mother nature's garden, what with all the work she’d no doubt put into it. 

“Of course! You’re the one who was thinking about it, so who else could it belong to?” She said it like it explained everything, but Niko was just getting further and further away from reality with this conversation. 

“What are you?” He asked, hoping perhaps she would know more about her own life than his. 

“Well……” She looked to the side, acting like he was asking what color of panties she had on. Was it weird to ask someone what they were? Maybe he should have specified species or something, what with the way her glow was getting even pinker, if that was possible. 

She sighed, practically wilting as she floated down to his propped up knee and took a seat. 

“I think I’m here to guide you. I was just waking up when I felt your garden growing in your head.” Turns out, she had more confusing answers to give, after all. 

“You were….Waking up?” He asked, stilted and unsure where this was supposed to be going. 

“Yes, don’t you remember? You’re the one who was trying to merge bodies with me. Rather rudely, might I add. I don’t recall ever being asked if I wanted to become one with you or not, but you decided to just jump in and see what could happen!” She seemed pretty vexed about the whole thing, but Niko was still feeling rather left out of what was happening. 

“When did I try to do that?!” He screeched, falling back a bit as though putting some distance between them would show how law abiding he was. 

“Just now! Don’t you remember?” She crossed her tiny arms around the petals that made up most of her - outfit? - as she glared at him, like he was the one being unreasonable. 

“I almost died a few minutes ago, when would I have time to meet and merge with a tiny flower person!?” 

“Well, I wasn’t in this form a minute ago. I was floating about in that big ditch that you decided to jump into.” 

“Are you saying….. You’re the fire that almost killed me?” Niko was feeling a bit light headed from all the nonsense this conversation had in it, but he tried not to dwell on the impossibilities too much. 

“Well, duh! I swear, people say you humans are supposed to be smarter.” She harumphed as she started spinning like a top on his knee. 

“How….Did you change forms?” If Niko was supposed to be smart, he might as well try asking something that could have an answer. 

Plu smiled wide, sharp teeth all the same length coming into view, glinting menacingly as she looked up at him. 

“That’s a better question, silly creature. I’m a Flair, We have many forms, depending on which forms our parents could use before they birthed us.” 

“Are there a lot of you?” Niko wondered, receiving an eye roll from the tiny sprite creature as she glared at him. 

She sighed, floating near his face as she pointed a tiny finger at him. 

“Of course! We Flair are as common as cats! You humans just never see us because you’re too mired in your preconceived notions of how your world works!” She was huffing and puffing as she ranted, floating around in circles, flipping about and glowing varying shades of pink all the while. 

There was a shuffling in the bushes behind them, causing Plu to pause, flitting past his head and investigating the sound. 

Niko quickly stood, watching warily as she approached the darkened woods that surrounded the giant field. 

Tiny sparks of fluffy pink shot off at random around her, giving him the idea that she was more scared than her courageous show was letting on. 

Creeping closer, she hovered above a set of bushes, no doubt the ones that had rustled a few minutes ago. 

As Plu got a good look at what was behind them, Niko saw her go white, all pink fading as though it had never been, and she quickly flitted back to his side. 

“We need to get out of here, now.” She whispered, flying backwards slowly like she was tiptoeing in mid air.