March 23, 2014
This story is very old, one of the first fanfiction stories I wrote. It's not very good, either (the novel by Kenneth Oppel, however, is). I wrote this fanfiction in 2007, when I was just starting my writing hobby. At the time I didn't have much of a clue on how to write, even though my family and classmates said that I was a good writer. I'm sure that they did mean it, but I was shy and had a hard time opening up and showing them the things I wrote, so they didn't see what my writing style was like. Otherwise, they probably would have corrected me on my many errors.
I've given myself too many writing projects, but when I have time, I think I'm going to edit this whole story and make it better. I was pretty immature and silly when I wrote this, and I think it shows. But thank you to those of you who continue to read it. I appreciate that.
Claws, razor sharp and serrated, plunged down at the young Brightwing bat with intent to kill. But she had other ideas; a quick roll to the side spared her life but sliced down her shoulder, the Vampyrum's claws digging deep, then pulling free. Gasping and losing altitude quickly, she prepared for the bite that would end her hopeless struggle against the Vampyrum. Suddenly her eyes spotted a smudge of movement, and she sent echoes down to identify the object. A human! She felt a ripple of disgust at it, thinking of everything its kind had done to bats, to Shade. But her ears twitched as the monster bat behind her ground its teeth in anticipation of sinking its teeth into her heart, and she knew there was no choice if she wanted to live to see her Silverwing friend again. Drawing out her last bit of energy, she pumped her wings and dove for the human, sending echoes bouncing off of its large body. She noticed this human, a female, had a strange covering over its back and she dove quickly under it, perching on its shoulders, on all fours and tightening herself into a ball. The human female let out a cry and reached for her, but she scrambled away in fear.
Taking refuge near a human didn't mean that she was safe, but it wouldn't kill her right away; at least she had that going for her. Suddenly a blow jarred the human, causing the Brightwing bat to almost fall off of its shoulders; she clung with all her strength to the human's cloth covering and squeezed her eyes shut. A moment later she opened her eyes, unable to bear the suspense anymore, and poked her head out from the first covering the human female wore. Arms flailing, the female struck out with her huge, powerful limbs at the Vampyrum, who hissed and struck back with claws and teeth. Several deep bite marks and long gashes appeared in the human's hands and arms, but she swung her arm at the bat and swiped at it instinctively with her hands. Amazingly, the Vampyrum hovered for a few seconds before flying off. The Brightwing almost couldn't believe it, but didn't stick around long after it was gone. Suddenly iron hands grabbed her and held her close to its face. She was trapped.
"Let me go!" the bat screeched, trying to bite and claw her way free, but of course the female human couldn't understand. It was infuriating, and it didn't seem intent on letting her fly away. Suddenly she realized she was feeling dizzy from blood loss, and let her eyes droop shut as she blacked out.
Expecting to wake up in a human's lab, the young Brightwing was startledto find that she seemed to be in a human roost on a soft object. The same face from before loomed over her and stuck a soft looking white object on silver talons toward her, and she hissed as it stung her deep shoulder wound, but she was too exhausted to move. The object withdrew, and the female human held something out to her, and her eyes widened when she realized what it was: A tiger moth. As it moved closer, pinched between the human's hands, she sniffed it warily. It smelled alright, no strange stuff in it, and she was ravenous so she snapped it right out from the hand and chewed it quickly and then swallowed. The human female made a strange, low noise, and her fur bristled. But the human didn't do anything else threatening after that, and now that she thought about it, the sound had seemed...sort of happy. All her hopes about humans flooded back; maybe she could talk to the female, somehow. She took a breath and tried again.
"Why did you bring me here? Why aren't you hurting me like the other humans that killed all those bats?"
"She's not like those humans," a female voice said, and a gray blur swept down and crouched on all fours in front of the newcomer bat, wings folding up as the creature stood on its hind claws. "A Graywing! Howno, not those buildings," she explained quickly to the other bat, seeing her bristling bright fur, "buildings that humans take bats and other animals too, I think, for healing. That's where this female human took me."
"That's...hard to believe." The Brightwing blinked, trying to take it all in, and the Graywing laughed. "I thought so, too, and I bit this human whenever she tried to pick me up, but I guess I've gotten to trust her. It could sound strange after all the things those humans did to us but maybe there are different humans: good and bad." Marina found herself smiling in relief. "So, you found a good human. I need to tell Shade..." she said his name without meaning to and fell silent, looking away from the Graywing. "Shade? Who's Shade?" Marina gazed back at the Graywing, sighed, and said firmly, "Names first."
"Lura Graywing. And what's yours, or will you tell me, O demanding one?" A grin was thrown towards Lura before she replied, "Marina Brightwing."