Peacemaker woke up in his room feeling well rested. He pushed himself up, and waited for his mind to ready. It was going to be a week that he was not in school, but he feel asleep early last night regardless. That just means I get more hours in today! He thought joyously. He got out of his hammock made of vine netting, and began his routinely morning work.
Peacemaker walked over to the desk in his room, and looked down at the only paper that was on his desk. It was his song that he was working on called, "Strawberries as big as a Scavenger's Head." He loved strawberries so much, but he never knew why. That's why I'm the weird one. He thought sadly. Peacemaker immediately shook that thought out of his head, and began working once again at it.
For the next ten minutes he sat at his desk adjusting words and thinking of new lines. Nothing changed much though, he was in the middle of a writer's block. He sighed and put his head flat down on the desk. I bet if Moon were here she could help me. That's another thing, he had this weird connection with Moonwatcher, his 'best' friend. He never knew how he and Moon became friends, they were just always that.
He got up lazily and walked out of his room. As he entered the kitchen, the light caught his scales and illuminated the rainbow coloured scales scattered all over his wings. Peacemaker was a Nightwing-Rainwing hybrid, but he never knew his father. Hope, his mother, didn't raise him alone though. Of course, Moon was there, but Hope has been dating a Rainwing female who was called Maple for 2 years.
Maple was a kind and active Rainwing. She worked as an artist and was a soon-to-be baker, but she sometimes worked at the hatchery in her free time. She loved dragonets, which gave Peacemaker another reason to like her. She was nice to him always. Of course, I'm not a dragonet anymore though, I'm almost 5!
He looked around the kitchen and saw Hope and Maple making breakfast together. Hope noticed him walking in and greeted him first, "Good morning Sweetie." Maple then looked over and said hello as well.
"Hi Hope, Hi Maple." He replied. Peacemaker walked over to the large table a close distance away and sat down.
"We're making pancakes with strawberries today." Maple said as she added the ingredients together.
"Oh... good." He said unenthusiastically, which the mothers didn't pick up on. They've had so many strawberries, Peacemaker was almost getting sick of them. Almost. Peacemaker loved strawberries, but that didn't mean he didn't get sick of them. "I was actually going to go over to Butterfly's house this morning, if that's okay."
Butterfly, his friend, didn't exist. Well, maybe they do, but we're certainly not friends. 'Butterfly' was just an excuse to get out of the house more quickly.
"I think that'd be fine, because I think we might need a different breakfast plan." Maple insisted. As he looked over the blushing Rainwing, he saw burnt and weird looking pancakes. Hope laughed when she saw, and Peacemaker got up to go to the door, giving Maple his thanks before he left.
He heard Hope yell, "Bye honey!" before he closed the door. He turned around and saw the familiar sight of the Nightwing village before him. Many walked down the streets, merchants shouting nonsense trying to sell their wares to them. Some Nightwings came in with building supplies coming in from different areas of the forest.
He walked down the streets quietly, trying not to be spotted. It was inevitable though, because as soon as one saw, it spread like a disease. Peacemaker doesn't know why, but all the Nightwings look at him weirdly. It's not because he's a hybrid, no, there were more than 20 running around the village. No, it was something else. Something he didn't know, but everyone else saw it like a red flag.
He sighed, and continued down the road, soon turning right down a different, less busy street. Soon he saw his real friends in the distance, playing with sticks like swords. Peacemaker picked up a good, straight and sturdy stick next to him, and charged at one of his friends.
He turned and parried his attack, but on of the others hit him in his leg. This continued for a couple minutes, and eventually Peacemaker dropped his stick, and stopped playing. They were panting for a good minute, then his friend Ashwatcher got up and said. "Wow, maybe we'll save the Rainforest someday!"
If any adult Nightwings were around, they probably would have scowled a bit. These dragonets grew up in the Rainforest though, of course the dragonets loved it here. They don't know what it was like on the Island. That didn't stop the groups play though.
Peacemaker's other friends were called Shadowhopper, a female Nightwing. A Rainwing male called Grape, and a Seawing female named Hightide.
Grape then got up and said sarcastically, "Well, maybe we will, but you on the other talon..." They all just laughed. The rest of the group got up and walked down the street. These dragons are cool, they don't look at me weirdly. Peacemaker said to himself in his mind.
As the rest of the group spoke to each other walking down the street, Peacemaker got a sudden dizziness, and tripped over his own talons, falling on his stomach. He heard Shadowhopper say, "Clumsy boy," but then a serious pain entered his head.
The pain was sharp, and unforgiving. He clutched at his head, talons over his eyes as he lay on the ground. He yelled and groaned, as the pain got worse, and clawed at his head. Flashes, a series of images of a family of Nightwings flowed through his head, at random intervals. As he yelled, he watched the images go by, seeing a young female... what looked to be a Nightwing-Icewing hybrid and a more Nightwing looking one.
A voice entered his head after the images. It only said, "Who am I?" but the voice sounded ancient. It was deep and knowing. The pain and images stopped suddenly, and he stopped yelling and groaning. He removed his talons from over his eyes, seeing blood trickle down them and near his eyes.
Peacemaker looked up and saw Rainwings and Nightwings surrounding him. He looked around and noticed he was in the Rainwing hospital. He saw his friends, Hope and Maple, some other random Nightwings, the doctors, and... Queen Glory. He didn't say anything for a couple seconds, confusion settling on his mind.
"Um... w-what?" Peacemaker said awkwardly. Then the whole room lit up with questions, ranging from, "What happened to you?" and "Are you alright?" His mothers and Queen Glory shushed everybody after a few seconds. They urged his friends and the other Nightwings to leave.
Once they left, Queen Glory turned to him and placed her blue and green talons on his bloody black ones. She spoke softly, and looked him in the eyes. "Are you okay?"
Peacemaker shook his head no, to confused and scared to form words. Queen Glory just held his talons tighter though, and interrogated him further, "What... what did you see?" Hope looked like she tried shushing her, but Queen Glory beckoned for her to wait.
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Peacemaker just stared for a few minutes, but anxiously explained to them, "I... a N... there were flashes, and images, of two Nightwings. I don't know... one of them looked like a hybrid, maybe Nightwing and Icewing. She was short... white wings... and shy, but she was smart. The other..." He looked at Hope, who looked heartbroken now. Maple comforted her, and Queen Glory pressed on further.
"And the other? What did he look like?" That confused him. How did she know that it was a He? It didn't matter to him, he closed his eyes and took a breath. He brought the images back into his mind, and took a good look at the male. "He... he's big, and tall... he looks... happy near the other. Except... there's a tear drop next to his eyes, like he's...crying?"
He looked at his mothers again, Hope and Maple sat there, hugging. Queen Glory looked at the ground, and then next to Hope. The look they gave each other looked like they just shared a secret message, and Hope nodded. Queen Glory turned back to him, and seeing his look, explained to him, "I think you're... you're hallucinating. Did you eat anything at all?"
"No? Not all morning." Peacemaker whined.
"Well, then a poisonous frog must have gotten to you without you noticing. You're a lucky one you know?" Queen Glory said with a smile. It was obviously fake, he could sense it. She looked at the nurses, ordering them to get him something to eat.
"Can... can I go home now then?"
"Well, you might suffer from some after affects, and the nurses will need to stitch those claw marks later, if it doesn't heal itself. They're pretty deep."
He pressed a talon to his head, and felt a bandage over his head. How did that get there? He looked at Hope, who looked much calmer now. She and Maple hugged Peacemaker. He hugged back, and Glory walked over to a bulky Nightwing at the doorway, who looked scary.
As they talked and got ready to leave, he heard Glory say faintly, "This might be a Code D, but..." That's all he heard her say before she left, leaving a very confused and scared hybrid to the nurses. He turned back to his mothers and asked in a hushed voice, "Um... w-what time is it?"
Maple perked up and replied to him, "It's... almost sunset sweetie." The two let go of him and looked at the nurses, who now had bread and a banana on a wooden tray laid next to him.
He tried looking outside again, confused even more now than ever. "What? But it was just morning when it started! It was only like, a minute long migraine? Wasn't it?"
They looked between each other, and looked back at him like he was crazy. "Honey, it's been going on and off for a couple hours. You've been screaming and groaning maybe every fifteen minutes too."
He felt for the bandages and found them instantly. "What about this? I... I started scratching like, right away, right? They wouldn't have let me just bleed like that?"
Hope nodded her head again, and replied to him. "You only scratched that deep when you were about to wake up Peacemaker. Please, try to get some rest tonight if you can." With that, Hope and Maple hugged Peacemaker, getting ready to leave for the night. "We love you, Peacemaker." Hope said softly.
Peacemaker hugged them back and whispered, "I love you too." They all let go, and soon the two were out the door flying back home. Peacemaker on the other talon, was probably going to be up for a while. He got out of the bed, a little dizzy at first, but gained control of himself. Some of the doctors slept in the small hospital to make sure that the patients would be alright in the night, but only one of the beds were occupied now, with a sleeping Rainwing.
He saw a small mirror on the wall; he quietly walked up to it, trying not to wake the Rainwing, and stared at himself for a while. Peacemaker looked at his scales, which were black, like a regular Nightwings. They were his mothers design of scales, which he liked. He stared at his wings, the parts of himself he even considered a little weird. Whenever he asked about them or his father, she always said that he was a Rainwing. He shifted them about, getting a good look at them, until he finally moved up and stared at his face.
His eyes, round and as black as the night. They had a sense of wisdom and understanding to them. While he stared, he thought to himself again, repeating the voice in his head like a broken record, "Who am I?"
