#monkeyanzia

"..All right, then," he said in a strained voice, lowering his hand from the other's cheek. "I'll see you, I guess. Ren." He bent forward and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.

Heren turned around hesitantly and with one last look at Ren, he started to walk out.

"--It's sad," he choked out, looking at the ground outside of the train. "That I have to leave like this. I would've hoped that..."

"Never mind." Heren smiled to himself and shook his head, waving once, not looking back. "You still have to keep her safe, memory loss or not, buddy. You don't even have to remember my name. You don't have to do that. If there was only one thing, that is the one thing I'm counting on you for."

Ren blinked, giving a blank stare at the back of the figure in front of him. It was still so early...barely sunrise. Was he seeing things clearly? He rubbed his eyes once, and frowned. Ah...no, this goodbye was real. Someone was leaving--who used to be his friend, right? He opened his mouth to say something--to apologize, apologize for not remembering his name or him or whatever promise he had made before, but;

"You better come back safe, or I'll plummel you for everyone myself, Heren."

His eyes grew wide from surprise as his hand flew to his lips. Heren froze, turning around swiftly, and looked at Ren with a shocked expression. Both men knew that wasn't him--that wasn't him speaking. It couldn't...could it? Ren stared at Heren with muted alarm, but the dragon suddenly laughed. To himself, it seemed like.

It must have been the rising sun, the rays casting off a glare--it looked as though, for a split second, the dragon was crying. Had Ren seen that before? Somewhere.