Chapter 4: He's Alive?

Silverspinner stepped out of the school with relief. It had been a long day, and she was ready to go home. Just as she was about to take off, she heard someone call her name.

"Hi, Silverspinner!" Bloom bounded over to her and turned into a bright yellow.

"Hi, Bloom." Silverspinner said shyly. They had had a couple classes together, and Bloom wasn't that bad. Sure, she was loud, but one friend was better than none.

"Can I come home with you? I want to see what your house looks like!"

"Um, I'm not sure if that's a-"

"So it's settled! Let's go!" Bloom interrupted her.

I don't think I really have a choice, do I? Silverspinner sighed and flew off, a bit slower than usual so Bloom could keep up.

Silverspinner landed in front of her house and opened the door. Her mother was sitting at the table with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Mother? What's wrong?" Silverspinner asked. She looked behind her and saw Bloom standing inside, quieter than usual.

"Silverspinner, you might want to sit down for this." Her mom said, a small spot of grayish blue appearing on her wing.

"Okay," Silverspinner sat down on the opposite end of the table, a little worried. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"It's your father..."

Silverspinner flicked her tail. He had promised he'd come back, and he never did, so Silverspinner had come to the conclusion he had died.

"He's alive."

"He's alive?" Silverspinner echoed.

"He's alive, and he's being held prisoner." Her mother answered.

"You mean...he never came back because he couldn't?" Silverspinner felt her life flip upside down. The reason she hated her father wasn't true. She saw her mother nod, and her questions flooded out.

"Where is he? Who imprisoned him? How do you know this?"

"I don't know, dear. He dreamvisited me, and said to tell you he never meant to leave you for this long, and that he loves you."

He loves me. She felt her hate for him melt away, and then had a thought.

"I have to find him!" She jumped up from her seat and started looking for things to pack.

"Wait," Her mother said, and Silverspinner stopped. She couldn't leave her mother. Even if she wasn't her real mother, her mother had raised her.

"I knew you would want to go find him right away, so I packed for you already." She pulled a large pouch from under the table and held it out to Silverspinner.

"But...what about you?"

"I knew you would go look for him one day or another. I was always ready. Just come back, alright?"

"A-Alright, I will." Silverspinner nodded, trying to hold back tears.

She took the pouch and fastened it to her body, then hugged her mother. She turned to the door, and noticed Bloom was not there.

"Bloom?" She looked outside and saw a bright yellow thing flying through the trees towards her. The thing crash landed in front of her and jumped up.

"Hey! I heard you were going somewhere so I went home and packed!" Bloom said excitedly. Silverspinner noticed she had a bag tied to her back. "Let's go!" Bloom took off.

"Bloom, wait!" Silverspinner called out. "That's the wrong way."

A few hours later they were walking through the forest. They had decided to walk to save their flying muscles for open land, and walk through the dense rainforest.

Silverspinner pricked her ears. "Do you hear that?"

"Something is coming towards us. Look out-" Something burst out of the trees and crashed into Bloom. Bloom shrieked as it rolled off of her and looked at Silverspinner.

"Mamba? What are you doing here?" Silverspinner ran over to the dragonet, who looked like she had been crying.

Mamba grabbed her shoulders and shook them. "I-I-"

"Breathe, Mamba, breathe."

"I killed her, I'm a murderer, I killed-" Mamba dropped to the floor and curled up.

"Killed who? Who did you kill?" Silverspinner asked, kneeling next to her.

"A NightWing." Mamba said, then hung her head. She looked like she was about to burst into tears, and Silverspinner decided to do something.

"Where are you going now?" She asked her.

"I-I don't know, I just- I just packed and left." Mamba stammered.

"Well, we're leaving the rainforest, and you're coming with us." Silverspinner grabbed Mamba's talon and pulled her along as Bloom caught up with her.

"Are...are you sure this is safe? I mean she did kill someone." Bloom whispered.

"I'm sure. Besides, look at her. She needs help." Silverspinner indicated to Mamba, who was barely conscious as she was half dragged by Silverspinner.

Bloom sighed. "Okay, if you think so."

They walked most of the day, and Mamba slowly recovered and started acting slightly more normal. She wasn't as snappy or rude as she regularly was, but she was calmed down at least. They chose a small clearing and took off their bags, then went to sleep.

Later that night, all three of the dragonets slept together on a patch of moss, completely unaware of their surroundings. growing up in the rainforest, none of them had thought they would need to post guard. The rainforest was fairly safe, but the rest of the continent...

Not so safe.

I know there are a lot of cutscenes in this chapter, but a lot of stuff happened that needed separate settings. There's also a good amount of dialogue, but that's to be expected. Thank you for reading!