I don't think Pyro Dagmere, boy who ran away from his loving home to find "a good story to tell", is going to do well in a cage y'all.
Out of all the characters I feel like Pyro and Maddy are the two people who will take being in a cage the worst. So I wrote about it.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly at all, it’s Pyro who spirals first.
For the first few days, all Maddy had done was cry, and sleep, and cry in her sleep. Pyro, whenever he noticed that she was awake, would do his best to comfort her, offering reassurances through the bars of their cages. Though, Maddy didn’t really want to see or hear him, it was absolutely his fault they were in this mess after all, she couldn’t help but feel better just knowing she wasn’t alone.
Pyro, for his part, seemed unchanged at first. As Maddy lay on her side and watched him, he seemed the same as he always did, steady and sure, somehow largely unbothered despite the horrific circumstances. It helped to calm her down, if Pyro was certain they would be rescued soon, then surely they would be.
As the days passed, Maddy’s nerves settled, her strength and hope grew. She still had Ambi and Pyro, and the man cloaked in shadows made sure that there was enough food for both rider and dragon. She would get through this, she knew she would. She was strong, the strength of a dragon, just as Pyro had said.
Then was the night she awoke to muttering. It was so quiet, that at first Maddy thought it must have been the wind, or her imagination. She peered out of the bars towards Pyro’s cage. He sat there, curled in on himself, long fingers tangled into his hair, for the first time since they’d been put here, looking small and scared.
“Of course they just went off and left me. What was I thinking? Send Cindy for help?” Pyro laughed bitterly. It sent a chill down Maddy’s spine, “Cindy’s never coming back. Why would they? They’re never coming back.”
Maddy screwed her eyes shut and plugged fingers in her ears. It’s okay, she told herself, he’s just having a bad night. He doesn’t mean it. The others will come to save us any moment now. It’s okay.
Pyro’s bad night turned into Pyro’s bad days.
He paced his cage, which in reality just looked like turning circles on the small floor. Maddy watched him, anxiety churning like nausea in her gut. Even at a distance, she could see the circles, dark as bruises, under his eyes.
“There’s gotta be some way,” He muttered to himself, “They can’t just forget about me. They can’t. I’m not going to let them forget.”
“Pyro?” Maddy spoke softly, gently, the way one would to a frightened animal. He kept pacing, lost in his own head, almost as if Maddy no longer existed.
“I should have known better. I should have known better. This, this is what they wanted. They all wanted me to be brought down a peg. They wanted -“
“Pyro!” Maddy shouted this time, she couldn’t stand to hear him talk that way. Pyro froze in his pacing and blinked at her, slowly, almost not comprehending what he was looking at.
“Pyro, you’re scaring me,” Maddy said, “Please, please stop.”
“Maddy,” Pyro mumbled. Now that he was standing still, Maddy could see how he swayed on his feet.
“Pyro, have you been sleeping? When- when’s the last time you slept?”
“I’ve been thinking. Maddy, I’ve been thinking.”
Maddy sank her teeth into her bottom lip but kept quiet, listening.
“You know nobody else was around that day.” Pyro started pacing again. “You know that, right? Nobody was around.”
“Because it was really early in the morning, Pyro,” Maddy responded, “Now please would you stop pacing?”
“But I knocked! I knocked. Nobody came. The only person I saw was you. Now why would that be?” The light in Pyro’s eyes was manic, Maddy didn’t like it.
“I- I don’t know.”
“It’s because they were in on it! All of them! The whole time! They wanted this to happen to us, Maddy!”
“Pyro you’re not making any-“
He cut her off. He wasn’t shouting, but his intense mumbling was somehow even worse. “Even Cindermere. Even my gods-be-damned dragon. You know how excited they were to get out of here? I thought - I thought it was because they wanted to help me escape but no. No, of course not. They just wanted to get away from me. Cindermere just wanted to be rid of me. Rid of me for good like everyone else.”
“Pyro please, please just stop!” Maddy could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Ambi was shaking beside her, afraid. “We found that book, it wasn’t our friends who put us here, Pyro. It was the rebels, we know it was the rebels. Cindy loves you Pyro! They would never!”
“You know,” Pyro said it almost wistfully, “You know, I bet it was Scott that started all this. He could never get over it. Never forgave me for the fact that I had the balls to do what he never could. Yeah, yeah. It was Scott!" Pyro ran a hand through his hair forcefuly enough to tear at the strands. "This little kidnapping plan has his name written all over it. I bet he told everyone that we just left. They’re not even looking for us.”
“Pyro, please. You’re just tired. You need sleep. Just- just lie down. Just lie down, it will all be okay,” Maddy was practically begging at this point. She didn’t know what else to do. Their cages were too far apart, she couldn’t reach out to him, couldn’t help him. She hugged Ambi to her chest and just watched as Pyro paced, and paced, and paced.
Like a tiger in a cage, Maddy thought, tigers don't usually survive being in cages.
When Pyro did finally lay down, he didn’t get up again. The rise and fall of his chest - shaking, shallow - was Maddy's only indication that he was still alive.
Please hurry, Maddy silently prayed, Cindermere, your rider needs you so please, please hurry.
