Chapter 25
As Sunny began to panic and dig through the pile of treasure once more, I looked over to the two people. "Are you certain that this is everything?" I asked them. "What we need isn't here. Are you certain that there isn't anything else or that someone else might have what we're looking for?"
The male shook his head. "I assure you, this is everything. I...kinda had to steal some of it, but I swear that's everything." As he said that, Sunny finished digging through the pile, getting off the ground with a sigh and a shake of her head, signifying that the eye was indeed not there.
I nodded as I scooped up the other items of interest that Sunny pointed out, such as the woman's dream visitor and a blue dragon statue called the lazulite dragon, meanwhile Sunny put the gold and gems back in the bag for the two. "I thank you for your assistance at least. And be more careful in the future as well. Most dragons won't be as nice as we are."
The two nodded as the guy reached for the bag, meanwhile Sunny and I opened our wings before taking off to the sky. As soon as we were airborne, I looked back to see the two waving at us, and I couldn't help but smiling to myself. I looked over to see how Sunny was doing, and was glad to see she was smiling as well as she looked back at the two while we continued our journey back to the rainforest.
As we flew back, I decided to give Sunny the dream visitor, knowing she'd be able to find a use for it and was probably one of the best choices to give it to. Meanwhile, I held onto the lazulite dragon, in which I was going to ask Singularity for a good place to put it that other dragons wouldn't find. Neither Sunny or I knew what it did, other than the fact that it was possibly animus enchanted, and thus I deemed it safer if I put it out of claws reach of anyone for now.
As we flew, Sunny and I didn't talk much, mainly focusing on getting back to the rainforest and to the others. I knew Sunny wanted to put her plan into action, and I had to agree as well. The sooner a war was ended, the less lives that would be lost due to it. However, that still left the question as to how Sunny planned to end a war that had been going on for several years, but after seeing how well she handled things so far, I knew I had to put a little faith into her.
After a few more hours of flight, with the sun rising high in the sky, the rainforest was within sight again, and I think Sunny and I both put on a burst of speed, both of us eager to get back and see the others once more. I knew we both had our own reasons, such as Sunny wanting to check on Starflight and how I wanted to see who the mysterious visitor for me was, and thus we flew towards where the Rainwing village was, flying as fast as we could.
Eventually, after flying above the trees for a bit, we crashed through the canopy, once more being surrounded by trees in all directions. Due to a few weeks of being here, we were both used to maneuvering through the trees, though we would never be as good as a Rainwing, and thus we continued heading towards the village.
After a bit of moving, Sunny's ears twitched, and she rammed into my side, knocking me down from where i was. After a moment of confusion, Sunny was yelling for the Rainwings not to fire at us, telling them that we were Glory's friends. As she did that, I saw a couple of Rainwings appear in front of us, one of which retrieved a dart that was stuck in the tree where I had been standing just a moment ago.
As the Rainwings asked who we were and Sunny explained, I began to get off the ground and scrape the mud off of my scales. However, I didn't get much of a chance to do that however, as I was suddenly being thrown into the mud again by a familiar Rainwing crashing into me with a hug. When we stopped tumbling through the mud, I looked at Singularity with a grin. "You really have to stop crashing into me as a greeting. I'm not sure I can handle having to clean mud out of my scales every time you want to say hello."
Singularity laughed as she hugged me. "It's good to see you again Static!" She said. As she let go of the hug, she seemed to think for a moment before turning to me with some red appearing on her, though it was still overcome by majorly yellow and some pink. "No, wait, I'm supposed to be mad at you! Where did you go? Why did you disappear again without telling me!?" She shouted at me.
I looked at her with a grin before forcing her into a hug, in which she tried to resist at first before sighing and giving up. "I'm sorry about leaving so suddenly...again, but it was for good reasons, I swear." I said as I let her go, noting that she had a bit more pink on her than before. I then proceeded to tell her how Sunny had been kidnapped by the Nightwings and how I went after them. "I would tell you more, but i'd rather tell the whole story at once with the dragonets, and it's not even fully my story to tell." I said, pointing over to Sunny, who had finished talking to the other Rainwing.
Singularity nodded as Sunny came over to us. "Oh, and Singularity, I was wondering if you knew where I could place this without anyone else finding it?" I asked, holding up the lazulite dragon. Singularity nodded, saying she knew a place I could hide it. I then turned towards Sunny. "Alright, Im going to go hide this for now. Can you go find the others and get them to meet up wherever Glory currently is?" I asked her.
Sunny nodded. "Alright. Just be sure to get there quickly. Im sure the others are going to want us to explain where we've been for the last week." I nodded in agreement as Sunny turned and flew off into the trees. I turned towards Singularity, who I thought had an upset expression and grey on her scales for a moment, but then she turned away, leading me towards her hiding spot.
Following Singularity, I asked her how things were going since i'd left, and how she was doing. She explained how the Nightwings were doing just fine, with many of them having simple huts and were doing fine, though several were still upset and occasionally acted semi hostile to the Rainwings, though nothing over the top. Singularity had been doing just fine, having started with treating dragon's injuries in the medical hut, but then joined a search party a few days after my disappearance. Since then, she's been turning the Rainforest upside down looking for me.
After flying through the trees for a bit, we finally came across a small clearing, which Singularity told me was just West of the village. I nodded as she lead me to a specific tree, moving a leaf out of the way to reveal a hole in the tree. After looking at Singularity for a moment curiously, in which she said she was looking literally everywhere for me, I shrugged and placed the dragon statue there, before settling the leaf back into place.
With that done, Singularity and I began our journey back to the Rainwing village. We talked the whole time on the way there, talking about how we were both doing and such. It was nice, talking to her again, and once again, I felt a pang of guilt in the back of my head at knowing I was eventually going to have to leave, and the fact I hadn't even told her yet.
We eventually made it back to the village, in which I was reminded of the beauty of it with its flowers and colorful birds everywhere. However, I didn't have time to focus on that as Singularity led me to where Glory usually was, which was a tree house of sorts. Once we were there, I realized we had gotten there before Sunny and the others, and currently there was only Glory in there.
As I took a step to go inside, I suddenly had a Nightwing in front of my face. "What business do you have with the Queen?" Deathbringer said, making me and Singularity stop suddenly. Before I could explain, Glory sighed from behind him and went to move him away from the door.
"I told you Deathbringer, anyone can see me at any time if they need to. You don't need to stop every dragon that tries to...Static!" Glory yelled out as she saw me, before pulling me into a hug. When she was done, she let go and looked at me with a stubborn expression. "Where did you and Sunny go off to? Everyone's been worried, and I even sent Rainwings on patrols hunting the two of you. Speaking of which, Singularity, why aren't you with your patrol? And where's Sunny?"
Before I could explain, I was interrupted by the arrival of the other dragonets, who appeared and crashed into me in a giant hug, followed by Fatespeaker leading Starflight, who had bandages around his eyes, and Sunny, who looked happy to be with her friends again. "She's...right there…" I wheezed out as Tsunami and Clay got off of me.
When that was done, we all crowded into Glory's hut, which had a desk on it with several leaves with drawings and writings on them. Once we were all in, Glory began talking, asking where we had been, and telling us that we had worried them all so much. I let Sunny explain what happened, while I filled in the gaps that I experienced myself, such as going after Sunny both in the rainforest and in the desert.
We told our group everything, such as following the Nightwings, to Sunny's plans, to meeting the Outclaws, to Burn's stronghold (in which I got to learn about what Sunny had witnessed there, such as how nicely Smolder had actually treated her). We told them about flying back, the storm, Sunny's father, and the scavengers. When we were done, we were both out of breath from talking, and yet Sunny still had to explain her plan to end the war.
When it came to ending the war, Tsunami and Glory weren't as enthusiastic about the idea, especially Tsunami who felt like she was free since the prophecy didn't exist. However, Clay and Starflight agreed it needed to be done, and with how Sunny explained how stopping the war would stop not only the deaths of many dragons, but also the hunting for the dragonets, the others agreed as well. With that in order, Sunny explained her plan.
Essentially, the plan was to contact the three Sandwings sisters and have them meet together on a select night that Sunny had picked out. From there, they could either end things peacefully or through the tradition of a dual. When all was done, the war would be over, and no more lives would have to be lost.
There were still problems with this plan, such as if the sisters didn't show up or tried to set traps for the others. Then there was problem involving Burn's murderous tendencies, Blister's manipulative mind, and Blaze's clueless one. All three were horrible choices, but in the end, Sunny said things would work out.
Seeing a way to end this war, and to keep the dragonets safe, I agreed first to the plan, saying we could at least give it a shot. Slowly, the others began to agree as well, until all of the dragonets agreed to the plan. With that settled, we now had a plan, and thus, we'd start as soon as we were ready.
The first part was to contact the Talons of Peace, that way we could get a message to Blister through them. As we talked, we determined it would be best to send, me, Sunny, and Tsunami, and Singularity to make sure everything went well (we were eventually just going to send the three of us, but since Singularity threatened to sneak along anyway, I decided to include her to make things less difficult). We were also going to bring any of the false dragonets that wanted to come, in case they wanted to return to their families.
While we stood around Glory's table, discussing how we were going to do this, I heard a dragon land behind us. Glory told us to continue planning while she went over to see who it was, in which we discussed a possible place the Talons might be at. I heard Glory let whoever it was into the building, in which I felt a tap on my shoulder. When I turned around, the sight I beheld was not one I was expecting, and I felt my heart stop for a second as she spoke, revealing a voice I recognized immediately.
"Hello Static, or should I say Jack?" She asked. Before me was a dragon that looked similar to me, but was smaller and more feminine in body shape. She then ran up and hugged my still surprised and shocked still form, grasping on tight. "I knew I'd find you again Jack." She whispered, hugging tighter, and I could only guess that tears were filling her eyes.
"Sa...Sara?" I asked, still shocked. She loosened her grip on me and looked at me with a tear stained smile, nodding before hugging me again. I was knocked out of my shock, grabbing onto her and hugging her deeply. "How are you here? Why are you here? You...you shouldn't be here." I said, tears of my own filling my eyes.
I was finally with my sister again, and I was glad to finally be able to see and hug her again...but it wasn't supposed to be like this. Sara wasn't supposed to be here, in this world, a world that was at war, and dragons were forced to fight each other almost daily for survival. I could only think about what Sara had seen, what she had done. Had she been forced to fight? Knowing her, my guess was yes. But the even greater question, did she...kill someone?
As we embraced each other, the others began making their way out quietly, letting us have some time to talk. I heard Singularity ask what Sara meant when she called me Jack, but Sunny hushed her, saying I'd explain it later. I was thankful they left, knowing that there was going to be so much to talk about with Sara. But for that moment, we just stood there, hugging each other and not letting go, both of us happy to see each other once again.
After a bit of time, we let go, parting from each others embrace, and we just stood there for a moment looking at each other before I spoke. "How did you get here?" I asked her quietly, still shocked that she was even here at all.
"I came here looking for you." She said. "When you went missing, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. So I went looking for you, following the last steps I knew you took. That led me to the forest, where I fell into a hole.."
"..and you touched a strange stone, which brought you here?" I asked. She looked mildly surprised before nodding. "Alright. Next question: how long ago did you get here, what have you been doing since, and how did you find me?" I asked her.
At that, she took a minute to think. "I believe I've been here for about a month or two. I've been searching for you, for the most part. Then I met Blister, who had me work for a bit." My eyes widened at that, but I stayed silent, letting her finish. "Then I was trained by one of her most skilled assassins, in which we were sent to find the dragonets, but I was told by a strange Sandwing to abandon my teacher, saying the stars would lead me to where you were, which was here, in this village. I got here right as you chased after Sunny, and I wanted to follow, but your friends, the dragonets, made me stay."
I was silent for a moment after that, lost in thought. Working for Blister? Trained by an assassin? Sara had always believed in violence as an answer, but all of this? Finally, the question that had been plaguing my mind needed to be asked, so I did so. "Sara, did you ever in your time here kill anyone?" I asked.
She looked surprised for a second before looking annoyed. "No, I haven't. Jack, you know me, I may like fighting, but I'm no killer." We sat there in silence for a second before she looked down in shame. "I...have had the occasional thought to though. Ever since arriving here, I've been questioning more and more about whether fighting and killing is right or wrong more and more often."
I nodded. "I know what you mean. But it's good to know your conscious has kept you in check." I said. "But still, you shouldn't be here Sara. It's dangerous, and I don't need you getting hurt. But then again, I can't exactly send you back home, since I'm still looking for a way back myself."
"Then we'll find a way back together. And you shouldn't have to worry about me like that. You know I can defend myself in any situation, so just trust me, alright?" She proceeded to sit on the ground, and I followed her example, not wanting to stand the whole time as well. "What about you? What have you been up to this whole time? Heck, how did you even get here in the first place?" She asked.
I sighed, before telling her almost everything. I told her about how I originally got here, to my perils in the Skywing kingdom, to working with the dragonets, from the Seawing kingdom to the Rainwing kingdom, to the Sandwing kingdom and the outskirts of the Icewing kingdom. I told her of what I had seen, who I had met, what I had felt, both physically when I was dying of Sandwing poison, to emotionally, when I realized how much i've changed from my old pacifistic self.
I did leave out some parts though, such as some of my observations about dragons and how some acted towards me, such as how Peril freed Scarlet since she was the only "mother" she had left, and how Sunny had had feelings for me and how I had to friendzone her. I especially didn't tell her about my thoughts about not going back to our old home, knowing it would only make her concern grow.
When I was all done, Sara looked impressed. "Wow, it definitely sounds like you've had one heck of an adventure so far." She said. "At first, I was worried about how you were doing after seeing how violent it was here, but im glad to hear that you're doing so well. You even made some friends, even though you're eventually going to have to say goodbye." At my pained expression, she looked sad. "You haven't told them about your plan to leave, have you?"
I shook my head. "I told them basically everything, including how I want to find a way home after this is all over, but I haven't told them that I probably wouldn't be able to come back." I said. "I just don't want to let any of them down, especially after everything we've all been through together. I just...I can't handle that kind of sadness from them, and I wouldn't want to distract them with it, especially not now when they're going to be ending the war soon."
Sara nodded, but gave me a sad look as she nudged my side. "I know. You always were terrible at goodbyes. But you will have to tell them soon Jack." As she said that, I got up as well, and began heading to the exit. We had been there for a while, and I didn't want to stall for any longer.
I stopped at the exit, looking around and spotting the dragonets not too far off. I sighed as I looked back at Sara. "I'm sure I'll figure out something...just give me some time, and let them do what needs to be done." With that, Sara agreed, and we flew off to go to the dragonets and to begin Sunny's plan.
Several hours later, on the outskirts of the Mudwing and Seawing Kingdoms…
"I still don't understand why Singularity changed her mind about coming with us." I yelled to Sunny and Tsunami. "I thought she would've loved to see more of the continent, especially on an important trip like this." Sunny had told me before we had left that Singularity had changed her mind about coming with us, and currently the only ones in our group that didn't seem to care were Tsunami, who just wanted to get this over with, and Sara, who was glad that she was able to come along instead. We also had with us the false dragonet Mudwing, Ochre, though all he seemed to care about was the fruit he had brought along with him.
"I don't understand what changed her mind either." Sunny said as we approached our destination, which was a location the Talons of Peace supposedly met up at. "She had disappeared for a bit after we left you and Spark to talk." I still found Sara's dragon name to be amusing, teasing her a bit on the way here about how it sounded like a dog's name. "Near to when you and her came back, she flew up to us, looking quite upset about something, saying that she had changed her mind. Before I could ask her why she had decided not to go, she flew off."
As Ochre flew off to find the Talons, I couldn't help but wonder about Singularity. Knowing her, she had probably been curious about what Sara and I were talking about, and probably listened in from outside. I sighed as Ochre came back, followed by a Seawing, worried that Singularity had heard more than she was supposed to. If I was right, and she had been listening in, then any number of things I said could have upset her, but due to what Sunny had said, I could only guess she had heard about my plans to leave.
I made it a mental note to check in on her after everything was said and done, and began to follow the others as we flew down to where the two had landed. When we did land, we were quickly surrounded, and I made myself ready to fight while Sara growled, getting into position as well. Sunny looked slightly uncertain and Tsunami looked ready to attack the first dragon that gave her a wrong look as we walked forwards.
Tsunami's look softened and went into one of happiness and confusion as she rushed forwards, happily talking to another Seawing that, after a moment of looking at him, I remembered as Riptide. I let them talk as I kept my eyes on the other Talons, ready to unleash lightning if they tried anything.
Sunny began talking to the leader of the Talons, who Riptide introduced as Nautilus. He didn't seem that glad to see us, and had already yelled at Tsunami not to get any closer. He especially didn't seem the look of Sara and I, and I could only guess he might not have been that happy with me in general since the Talons had made it their job to make the war end with the dragonets, and instead I had gone and done it for them.
As Sunny explained she had a plan to end the war, and needed a message sent to Blister, he instantly looked a little less hostile, at least until she mentioned Blister. At that he appeared to look a bit nervous, and asked Sunny why they should send a message for her. Once more reminding him that we were talking about the end of the war, he agreed, saying that they'd send messengers to Blister.
With that out of the way, and one of the three Sandwing sisters dealt with, we went to leave. We were stopped for a second by a Skywing appearing and asking where her son was, and before we could tell her that Flame had decided to stay back, the scarred Skywing himself showed up, flying from the sky and into his mother's arms. With them embracing each other, we took that as our cue to leave, heading back to the rainforest.
Later that night, back in the Rainforest…
With us having returned to the rainforest, I separated with Sunny and went to hunt for Singularity, knowing we needed to talk. Sunny wished me luck, taking Sara with her since she knew I'd want to speak in private.
I flew around the whole village, asking the few Rainwings still awake if they had seen her. After several failed attempts, I eventually found one of the other nurse dragons. She told me about a spot outside of the village that Singularity had mentioned she liked to go to, and I thanked her, off to find this spot.
Following the Rainwing's directions, I went towards where Singularity supposedly went to at night, a place where she had the best view of the night sky, and thus, the stars. After a bit of searching, I realized that if it was a spot that could see the stars, it would have to be a clearing. Thus, opening my wings, I flew through the forest canopy, up into the sky.
Remembering the direction I had pointed towards, I flew along, looking for any open areas. Eventually, I found it, spotting a small clearing where the trees parted out into the forest, giving full viewage of the sky. In case Singularity was there, and was in fact upset with me, I didn't want her to know I was there, and thus I flew down, back through the trees.
After some walking, I came back across the clearing, and sure enough, sitting on top of a moss covered rock in the center of the clearing was Singularity, looking up at the sky. Her scales were completely grey as she looked at the sky, her face filled with sorrow as she let her wings droop sadly to the ground.
I felt miserable just looking at her, and knowing that she was probably feeling worse, I decided to go comfort her. I slowly walked out from the bushes, being as silent as possible. I approached her slowly, then stopped a bit behind her, before looking up at the sky as well. Not fully sure what to do, I decided to speak up and hope for the best. "I see why you like the stars so much." I said. "In a place like this, with just your thoughts to keep you company, it's understandable to see how you could get lost in them."
Looking back over, I could see that I had surprised her, but she then just sighed and looked back at the sky. "Is everything that you and your sister said true? That you're really scavengers? That you don't belong here? That you're looking for a way back, and when you find one, you're going to...leave?" At that last word, she sounded heartbroken, making me feel worse.
I sighed as I walked up to her. "Yes. We were brought here by the request of a dragon that just wants her suffering to end. I don't know how long that will take, but once it's done, I'll be sent home. The problem then though, is the fact I don't know if I'd be able to come back." By this point, I was next to her, and after seeing other dragons do it, I decided to try something, and thus I wrapped my tail with hers.
She flinched, but didn't stop it. "But shouldn't you tell dragons that when you first meet them? If they know you won't be here forever, then they can't grow attached...like I did." She dropped her gaze from the sky, looking down at the ground, tears filling her eyes. "You've been one of the nicest dragons I've ever met Static...I mean Jack. I've never heard of a dragon so loyal to his friends that he'll face death to keep them safe, or one that would jump at the chance to put himself in front of another's life, and still cares deeply for his friends and family. And with all of those that love and care for you just as much here, why do you still want to leave?"
I thought for a second about what I would do next, and sighed in my head, knowing what I had to do. First, I looked around, making sure no one was secretly watching, especially Sara. Once I was certain, I wrapped my wing around Singularity, pulling her close. I then whispered to her to make sure that if there was someone, that they wouldn't be able to hear me. "I'm going to tell you something I haven't told Sara. Don't tell her, no matter what, alright?"
After tensing up when I hugged her and started talking, she nodded, letting me continue. "I don't plan to go back." I said, the certainty in my voice still shocking me a bit. "I may have family back home, but I had no real friends, not like here. I won't sentance my sister here though, so when all is said and done, and I make sure she gets home safely, I promise you I'll still be here."
At that, Singularity seemed to cry a bit as well, gripping on tight to me in our hug. We stayed like that for a while, embracing each other in the clearing, with my mind set on staying in this strange world I had been forced into months ago.
In the next few days after, Singularity acted like her normal self once more, and Sunny continued her plan. After going to the Mudwing kingdom and getting a message sent to Burn (and stopping an attack on the Icewings), and having a message through the dream visitor to Blaze, to make sure she showed up after Jambu and Mangrove's message to her failed, Sunny's plan was ready to go through.
Thus, when two moons were full and a comet raced across the sky, and with us standing in the desert outside of the Sandwing palace at night, we were ready to end the war. However, that night would prove to be one of the most dangerous for the dragonets.
It would also be the night I failed to protect all of them.
Author's Note: Hey look, another chapter even though I have school and such. Woot! Anyway, thanks for the comments and support on the story so far. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out the awesome cover art for my story, provided to me by RandomPersonYouDon'tKnow, who I thank so much for drawing it. Anyway, the next chapter will be up next week, and thank you all for reading my story so far (also, Im still not sure if I will ship Singularity and Static, but hey, Im liking it so far, and if you all like it as well, I'll go for it eventually. Just be sure to tell me, alright?).