And here we have it. The next chapter!
Before I continue, thank you all so much for the support last chapter! I'm so glad you all enjoyed reading it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there will be any more chapters of a similar length for a while.
This chapter might be a bit underwhelming, compared to the previous, but I still hope you enjoy!
POV: Cyclone
Tears slipped out of his eyes.
Is Harvey… gone? Did Darkstalker somehow bypass the moon rock?
Cyclone felt like breaking down right then and there. One of the few ones who actually cared about him was gone. I-I don't know how I know. I just…. do.
He made a small whimpering noise, which made the nightwing who was nearby freeze. "Mangrove? Is that you?", she said with a hopeful tone, turning to the tree.
Crud. My sadness made her notice. He wasn't gonna try moving, however. There was nowhere else to go.
The Nightwing cautiously circled the tree with a hopeful expression. When she spotted Cyclone, however, it went away. "Oh, you're a Seawing", she observed.
"Y-Yeah", Cyclone said, with a hint of sadness behind his voice.
She must have noticed it, because her expression became more concerned. "What's wrong? You look like you just cried", she asked.
What do I say? "U-Uh, my friend recently d-died", he replied, putting his head down. It might not be true, but that's what it feels like right now.
"Oh. I'm so sorry", the Nightwing said, giving Cyclone a mournful expression. "D-Do you need help?", she asked.
I do. "N-No. I'm fine", Cyclone replied sadly, before a sudden burst of pain flared through his back.
THE PAIN. IT HURTS SO MUCH.
"Oh dear! You need help now!", the Nightwing exclaimed, crouching besides Cyclone. "Here, lean on me and I'll get you to the Nightwing Village!".
Cyclone absent-mindedly followed the commands the best he could. He was in too much pain to say a word. He clenched his jaw, trying to tolerate the pain as much as he could.
They walked in the rainforest for only a couple of minutes before emerging into a clearing. I was this close to the Nightwing Village? That could have ended badly.
"I need help!", the Nightwing shouted. Within just a few seconds, other Nightwings approached Cyclone, helping to lift him into a hut. Inside the hut, a lone Rainwing was there.
When the Rainwing noticed Cyclone, its expression immediately changed to a concerned one. It helped the Nightwings put him onto a bed that looked similar to his one at home.
"Yikes! Where did this dragon get these wounds?!", the Rainwing said once Cyclone was laying flat on his stomach. "Get me that dart, we need to knock him out now!".
Dart? That's a funny word. It made him think of the time when he made a funny joke at school. The only time when he got genuine laughs.
Suddenly, he felt something stab him in the side. Stab is a funny word too. Words are funny. Before Cyclone could have another thought, however, he fell into unconsciousness.
A fish swam up to Cyclone, poking him in the stomach. In response, he tried to grab the fish, but it slipped through his talons.
"Noo! I wanted that fish!".
A talon patted him on the back. "Don't worry about it, little Cyclone. Mom's here to get that mean little fish for you!".
Bulga dove into the ocean to get the fish while Cyclone waited. He couldn't wait to get older so he could finally catch one on his own!
After what felt like an hour, she finally returned. "Sorry for the wait. That mean fish was hard to get!".
"Mommy, why are the fish so mean?".
"They just don't like dragons, Cyclone. Much like how we don't like the sharks".
Cyclone pondered over this. "So… the fish think we're the sharks?".
"Yes, that's right". His mom put her talon on his head.
"When I get older, I'm gonna SMUSH that little fish!".
"I hope so, Cyclone. Then we can all eat it together!".
Cyclone didn't say anything else. All he wanted to do was finally catch a fish of his own and make his mom happy.
"This has a sad ending doesn't it?".
"Huh? Mom?".
Cyclone looked back, but his mom was looking into the distance. As he kept staring, he noticed that his mom didn't move at all.
He then realized the water wasn't moving anymore. The small waves were frozen and the little fish underneath weren't moving.
"Mommy? Why is everything not moving?".
"Because I froze it".
And suddenly, a two legged creature appeared on the beach. It looked like one of the weird animals from the scrolls.
"Oh, why did you have to dream about being a young dragonet tonight?!".
Cyclone was scared. This creature seemed really mean. It might try to eat him or mom.
"Sigh. Well, let's leave this dream, buddy".
And suddenly, everything around Cyclone turned white, then black. A weird chair-looking object appeared in the middle.
It occurred to Cyclone that he was actually dreaming. He was thinking of his young dragonet days, when he thought life would be perfect.
"Those days were fun", Cyclone said to himself, before noticing something was off. The weird dream feel of the world around him had disappeared.
"Yeah. I got rid of it", the two legged creature said with a weird voice. He sat down in the chair, looking at Cyclone with a serious expression. "We need to have a talk".
Oh, it's a scavenger. What's it doing in my dreams?
"Who are you?", Cyclone had to ask. This scavenger seemed somewhat similar to Harvey. He had to wonder if it was a relative of his or not.
"Heh. I can't really say, Cyclone. Let's just say that I don't have a name", the scavenger replied. "And no, I'm not related to that guy".
"What do you mean? Everyone has a name", Cyclone observed.
"Well, 'everyone' doesn't include me buddy", the scavenger shot back. "Anyways, back to the topic at hand. We need to talk about something".
"About what?", Cyclone nervously asked. He was looking for ways out of this weird dream place, but there was nothing.
"About your little rock", the scavenger replied. "I'm not quite sure how you got hold of it".
"The m-moon rock? Harvey gave it to me", Cyclone explained. There was no use keeping a secret, he was pretty sure the scavenger could read minds.
"Harvey, huh? Did he split it or something?", the scavenger asked.
"Yeah", Cyclone replied. He thought back to the day when he got the rock.
Being at Darkstalker's palace, back when Cyclone thought he was a good guy. How Harvey had randomly split the rock and gave Cyclone one part of the rock. It was a weird gesture at the time, and even now, it still seemed strange.
It had changed everything after that moment. It sent him on a wild adventure that he never would have otherwise taken. I don't regret anything. Except leaving him to his fate.
"And this Harvey guy, he gave it to another dragon too, right?", the scavenger asked again. Why is he asking these? He could just read my mind!
"Y-Yeah. He gave it to a dragon named Coypu", Cyclone explained. "But then, the magic blocking properties of the rock revealed who he really was: a dragon named Winter".
The scavenger stared at him for a second. "So, that's who the other guy is".
"Huh? You knew about this?", Cyclone asked, with a confused expression.
"Not exactly. But their dreams are very strange", the scavenger explained. "It appears that he is quite the disappointment to his family. Real shame. Never really understood that concept".
Cyclone winced at this. He wasn't exactly a disappointment to his family, but it felt like he was sometimes. Do scavenger families not do that?
"Well then. It appears you're going to be waking up soon", the scavenger said suddenly, standing up. "Make sure to keep that moon rock buddy. Never let go of it".
And before Cyclone could even say goodbye, the scavenger disappeared.
That was extremely weird.
While Cyclone sat there in the empty room, contemplating what just happened, it occurred to him that he probably should be awake at this point. When he thought that, the dreamscape around him suddenly went blank.
There were voices around him. Why there were voices, he had no idea. What happened?
Cyclone tried reaching into his memory. He was in the Rainforest, tearing up about Harvey's disappearance. Well…. I think he's gone. But maybe there's a chance he's alive.
Then a lone nightwing had found him hiding behind the tree. The last thing he remembered was a burst of pain from his back and ribs. Everything after that was a blur in his mind.
Gradually, the voices around him began to come into focus.
"How's the Seawing's wounds looking?", one of the voices said.
"Not very good", winced another voice. "Several of his ribs are broken. His back is completely bruised. It's almost as bad as Kinkajou's wounds from 6 months ago".
I completely forgot about my back. The ribs were in so much pain back then, that he completely forgot about his own back.
"Do you think he's going to wake up?", the first voice asked, with a concerned tone behind it.
"Well… considering how Kinkajou didn't wake up for a few weeks…", the second voice began, before trailing off.
That sounds ominous. But if he could hear the dragons speaking, wouldn't that mean he was awake?
"I hate to prove you wrong, Heliconia, but it looks like the Seawing's waking up", the first voice suddenly said, with a hint of alarm.
"Yikes! I didn't see that coming", the second voice exclaimed. Cyclone assumed that was Heliconia. "I better get another sleeping dart before the pain kicks in-".
"NO!", Cyclone suddenly yelled, opening his eyes quickly. He had never done that before, but being put to sleep was probably the last thing he wanted to do right now.
He appeared to be inside a medical area. Cyclone could see different kinds of medication that were similar to what he saw in the Kingdom of the Sea. Sunlight streamed through the windows, brightening up the place.
In the corner of his eye, he saw a Rainwing cautiously stepping closer to Cyclone. Must be Heliconia.
"Oh my! Are you in pain right now?", Heliconia asked. Her scales were gold-orange, most likely meaning surprise.
At the moment, Cyclone wasn't in pain, surprisingly. Whatever the Rainwing did to help his pain, it worked. "N-No", he stammered out.
A pleased expression appeared on Heliconia's face. "Really? That's another win for Heliconia!", she exclaimed. "I'm amazed. Kinkajou took weeks to wake up from similar injuries".
Kinkajou? Isn't that the dragon who's a close friend of Qibli's?
"Well, anyhow, this Nightwing wants to speak to you", Heliconia continued to say. "I'll be outside, in case you need to be darted again". And with that, she walked out the door, leaving Cyclone and the Nightwing in the hut.
"Are you doing alright?", the Nightwing asked, with a concerned expression. She had moved to sit next to the bed.
"Y-Yeah. Surprisingly, the injuries don't hurt", Cyclone replied.
The Nightwing smiled at that. "That's great! I hope they recover quickly, so you can get back to whatever you were doing", she said. "Oh, I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Secretkeeper".
Secretkeeper? I hope her name is accurate. "Nice to meet you, Secretkeeper. I'm Cyclone", Cyclone replied. "So, why did you want to speak to me?'.
Secretkeeper fidgeted her talons a little bit. "Well, have you seen a Rainwing named Mangrove?', she asked.
Cyclone blinked. "U-Uh, I need some more d-details", he said, a little dumbfounded.
"Right. He's my friend's mate. She has been looking for him ever since he didn't return home last night", Secretkeeper said. "Obviously, I had to help her out".
That sounds nice. "What does he look like?", Cyclone asked.
"Whenever he doesn't react to anything, he normally appears to be purple scaled all over", Secretkeeper explained. "Although, lately he's been using more all black colors, like a Nightwing".
Cyclone stared at her for a second. "U-Uh, when did y-you last see him?", he asked nervously. If his suspicions were correct…
"I think it was yesterday morning. He said something about doing royal business", Secretkeeper replied. "Now that I think about it, his pupils looked a little weird that day".
This is sounding bad. "Can you e-elaborate?", Cyclone asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.
Secretkeeper looked at him strangely, but she did what he asked. "I didn't really pay attention to it at the time. If I remember, it looked.. smaller?", Secretkeeper elaborated.
While Cyclone tried to keep a calm face, he was freaking out inside. That sounds a lot like the one who gave me these injuries!
Apparently he didn't do a good enough job keeping calm, because Secretkeeper noticed him panicking. "It looks like you might have met the dragon", she said, looking at Cyclone with some suspicion.
What do I say?
"W-Well, maybe I have..", Cyclone trailed off. "But it's n-not pretty".
A worried expression appeared on Secretkeeper's face. "Is he dead?! Please don't tell me he's dead!", she exclaimed.
Cyclone shook his head. "He's not quite dead. But well…..", he said, before trailing off again. What do I say?
Secretkeeper stared at him in silence. She had a worried face on. Hidden behind the face, however, seemed to be a look of trust. One that Cyclone couldn't ignore.
"He's the one who gave me these injuries!", Cyclone blurted out, not able to hold it in anymore.
In response, Secretkeeper's expression changed to one of shock. "W-What?! What do you mean?!", she asked loudly.
Before Cyclone could respond, Heliconia barged in. "Hey! I heard yelling! Everything ok?", she exclaimed. "I got my sleeping dart ready!".
Secretkeeper sighed. "Everything's alright, Heliconia.", she said. "I'm just making some… discoveries".
Heliconia raised an eye ridge, but didn't budge it. Once she had left the hut again, Cyclone let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.
"S-Sorry for the yelling", Secretkeeper said a little regretfully. "I'm just shocked. What happened?".
Cyclone told a version of the truth. He left out the fact that Harvey was a scavenger and how Darkstalker had captured him after the fight. But he included everything else in.
When Cyclone had finished, Secretkeeper stared at him in shock. "That's… awful. Why would he do such a thing?".
He shrugged. All Cyclone hoped was that Mangrove would stay as far away from Cyclone as possible.
As he shrugged, however, a burst of pain flared through his ribs. Cyclone clutched his chest in pain.
"HELICONIA! Get that sleeping dart now!", Secretkeeper yelled. Within seconds, Heliconia was there and stabbed the dart into Cyclone's arm.
A few moments later, Cyclone had fallen asleep, his dreams once again taking him away.
NOTE: I'm aware that there's another Rainwing named Heliconia. I'm pretty sure they're one of Glory's invisible guards. Just know that this one and that one are different dragons.
And yes, this Secretkeeper is the same one from the books.