Arrival at Manta Carlos

"Hm? Why did they do all this?" Lyra asked, waving a hand over her stomach. "They were doing it to get rid of the "evil and demonic energy that I possessed. As for how, it was expected of the community. People who didn't participate were punished as well. Not that anyone didn't want to not participate." She shrugged again and looked down at the wound.

"I don't think it's that deep. Give me a minute and I'll fix it. But first I want to take care of Val. Did you get hurt at all?" she asked the snake. "I know that was a pretty rough landing." Val snorted. "Rough landing my foot, but yeah. I did get hurt." He turned so that his underside was facing her, revealing a shallow but long cut. Lyra placed her hand on it and concentrated. Her hand glowed gold, and the cut slowly disappeared. As Val's injury was healed, another one just like it appeared on her stomach. When the cut was gone she gently lifted Val off of her chest and draped him over her neck. He wrapped himself around her and placed his head on her shoulder so that they both could see as she worked on her own wounds.

Lyra sighed and rolled up the edge of her shirt to just below her ribcage. She placed her hand over her stomach and her hand glowed gold again. When she felt the cuts close up, she ripped off a piece of clothe from her sleeve and wiped the blood away, revealing a thin scar where the cut she got from healing Val had been. Above it in large, capital letters were jagged scars from a knife, spelling out "DEMON."

Lyra looked back up after she had rolled down her shirt. "My name? I've been called "Demon," "She-devil" and "Witch," to name the nicer ones, since I was seven. My name's Lyra, but the only one who calls me that is Val. You can decide what you want to call me."

"I'm sorry." Lyra's eyes widened slightly as the words played again in her head, making sure she had heard him right. Nobody had ever said sorry or felt bad for her. No, there was one person.... she shook her head sharply, trying to get rid of her thoughts. She was not going to think about him right now.

Seeing the tears in the boy's eyes, Lyra hesitantly reached out a hand. She paused a few inches from his face, before she softly wiped them away. "There's no need to be sad, or to apologize," she said quietly. "None of this was your fault, and besides, I was used to it."

Hearing his decision on what to call her, a bright smile spread across Lyra's face, widening even more when he told her his own. Without thinking, she threw herself at Nikki and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you," she said. Then, realizing what she had done, she pulled away with a light blush, Val hissing in amusement. She threw the viper a dark look, which only caused him to laugh harder.

"It might not have been right to you, or the rest of the world, but it was right to them," Val hissed angrily. Lyra's face closed off for a moment before she was back to her smiling self, only this time it seemed a little more strained.

When Nikki put his hand on her shoulder, Lyra flinched a little, the gesture putting weight on a couple of the other healing wounds she had. After less then a second though, her body had relaxed again and she had a huge grin on her face. "Thanks," she said again despite what Nikki had said earlier. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"Val? He's fine. He's just angry at the people who hurt me," Lyra explained, Val nodding his head in agreement. "I'd love to get out of here," she said, much more brightly than before. "Just give me a couple minutes?" Val slipped down her arm to rest on the bed beside her as her eyes slipped shut. Concentrating, Lyra's entire body glowed a soft gold. After a few minutes it faded and most of her injuries were gone, except for a few minor cuts which were already closing up pretty quickly on their own.

Lyra jumped off the bed excitedly, good as new. She held her hand above Val who climbed up it, wrapping himself around her arm. He placed his head on her shoulder and looked around at the room from higher vantage point.

Lyra looked ready to run out the door but stayed still when Val gently squeezed her arm. "Clothes," he hissed. Lyra looked down at her shredded and bloody clothes and her mouth opened in a small 'o.' She looked up at Nikki and shifted from foot to foot in slight embarrassment. "Do you think I could get a new set of clothes?" she asked him.

Lyra smirked, digging in her jeans pockets. She pulled out a fat leather wallet and showed it to Nikki. "Actually I do. Val nicked it from my dad while my parents were knocked out from his venom." She rubbed the viper's head appreciatively, making him hiss softly in contentment. "He deserved it," Val hissed lazily.

Lyra stuck the wallet back in her pocket and her smirk turned into a smile. "I would like it if you could come with me though," she said.

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((I don't think I gave a pic of Val. Here he is: Valraven))