A/N: Ahoy there. You may be wondering what the heck I'm doing posting another story when I've already got my hands full with Residual Darkness. Well, no worries, I just felt like a bit of a break from convoluted chapter fics. As for RD, chapter 19 should be posted sometime tomorrow or the day after, and ch. 20 is off to a good start, so don't worry about that.
Anyway, as the summary says, this is going to be a series of drabbles and oneshots, most of which probably aren't going to be related to each other - or to my other stories, for that matter. They're just random little snippets I feel like writing whenever I get bored. Also, the quality and length of each drabble/oneshot is probably going to vary quite significantly, and I'm not going to get a beta for these either. Pretty much I'm just posting them because I feel like it; it's not really a serious thing.
I'll probably be going through a variety of genres, and some may be in first person while others are in third person. Often, like this little one, they're short and pretty pointless. But hey, if you're interested, feel free to give suggestions/prompts/ideas. In fact, I'd like it very much if you could. ;)
And no, this isn't going to interfere with RD, nor is it going to update at regular intervals. Just whenever I feel like it. I already have several written at the moment. But you can just have this little drabble (though I use that term loosely, as it's typically supposed to refer to a fic of exactly 100 words, which this is not) for now.
Spirit Gems
First Steps
'…not your real son?'
'…came from someplace far away…'
'…the innocent seem to always pay the price.'
He had never questioned his existence. He had never thought to consider the obvious differences; never wondered why. There had been no need to – existence just was. There had never been a why.
Until now.
Deep down he thought he'd always known. Somewhere in the back of his mind that thought had always lingered, suppressed for fear of the questions it raised. He had seen the impossibilities as clearly as anyone, known that his existence as he knew it could only be a lie. It was an absurdity that dragonflies could be parent to a creature such as him.
Whatever that creature was.
But he had pointedly ignored the obvious. Those questions for which there were no answers were too overwhelming for his young mind. He shut them out. Had he not, he may well have been driven mad by wonder. But he should have known the questions would rise sooner or later.
He just wished it could have been later.
The swamp was all he'd ever known, the dragonflies the only family he'd ever cared about. This place was home. He didn't think anything could ever change that. So why now did everything suddenly feel so different? The damp earth beneath his paws that had once felt so welcoming now felt cold and harsh against his scales.
Scales.
Smooth, hard amethyst, so out of place amongst the earthy tones of the swamp. They were a memento of a life he'd never get to live, a family he'd never get to know, a world he'd never get to see. They were a reminder of a home he could have had. But the swamp was his home now.
So why did he feel so unwelcome?
"It changes nothing," he told himself, "I am still me. It doesn't matter if I am different. I have always been different. Why should things change just because I know that now? It changes nothing."
But the questions were still there, and they were still unanswered. The swamp no longer felt like home, no matter how he tried to convince himself that it was. What once had kept him safe and protected from the outside world, now felt like a cage from which he could not escape. He yearned for a world far beyond his reach; a world that should have been his own.
'You are our real son…'
"Maybe I was once. But not anymore. My home, my life, my family is out there somewhere. I have to find them."
He had never questioned his existence.
But as he took those first steps, he knew he was seeking the answer.
A/N: Why Spirit Gems? Dunno, sounded like a cool name for a series of drabbles and oneshots. Ah, writing short stuff like this is a nice change from 10 000 word chapters...