Desperate Measures

AN: The events in this chapter happen the day before the prologue of Dragons Change. It sheds some light on why Moon ended up on Winter's door.

Edited: (5/30/21)

WARNING: Physical abuse in this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire.

SMACK!

Pain.

It was all she felt during this relentless series of hate-fueled strikes. She had long since given up trying to fight back. Every time she did, he would only hit harder.

SMACK!

That, and he said if she tried to again, he would just stab her with his tail and be done with it. He had sounded hopeful when he said that—almost like he wanted her to give him a reason.

SMACK!

She just laid there as the dragon she once loved hit her over and over. She had told herself she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't show him how much he hurt her. It was hard to hold back tears not just of pain, but of sadness as well.

SMACK!

The worst part was that she couldn't even see inside his mind anymore, so she didn't even know why he was so mad at her. He had begun wearing skyfire once again, and when she questioned him about it, he had yelled at her to mind her own business.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

She heard his heavy breaths after that twenty minute exertion before he sneered in derision and walked away without a word. The door to their room was thrown open and slammed shut. Then, and only then, did she let her tears run free. Why is this happening to me!? What made Qibli change from the lovable goof he used to be into…this…this MONSTER!?

Qibli had been acting strange for quite a while, but he had never laid a claw on her…until now. Before, he would just ignore her or yell at her for bugging him, but she had always held out hope that he would come back to his senses one day.

That hope had just disappeared.

Her tears eventually slowed, and her fear turned into anger. She tried, through the unimaginable pain, to stand and eventually succeeded. It was a miracle nothing was broken…yet. If this happened again, she doubted she would be as lucky.

That's why it couldn't happen again.

She would give Thorn one more chance to explain. If she still didn't, desperate measures would need to be taken. It was time to stand up for herself. Blaze had even challenged Thorn for the throne for her when the Queen refused to help. The ex-princess had lost, of course, but she appreciated the effort. She had been banished from the Kingdom instead of outright killed. Some might call that mercy.

She called it sadism.

Blaze had lived a sheltered life. She had never had to fight—even in the war—so she didn't know how to survive on her own. Provided she even made it out of the desert, she would have had to find some sort of job to sustain herself. The only problem with that was that Blaze didn't know how to do anything.

If she hadn't made it out of the desert, it would have been a slow death caused either by starvation or dehydration. Either way, it was highly unlikely that Blaze had survived for the two years since she was exiled.

She sighed as she reached the door and opened it. Her 'fiancé' was nowhere to be seen. Three-and-a-half years ago, they had planned to get married. Qibli had proposed to her after almost four years of dating. The next day, he had gone missing before returning a week later acting different.

He had never mentioned getting married again. It hurt.

Though, she realized that her physical pain outweighed her emotional pain. She didn't really care anymore. Of course, she still wanted the old Qibli back, but that seemed to be less likely with each passing day.

She made her way, carefully, through the halls towards the throne room. That's where Thorn usually was at this hour.

She honestly didn't know why she was bothering trying to get answers from the Queen. She had tried before and the answer had always been the same: "Stay out of Sandwing affairs for your own safety."

She didn't know why Thorn and Qibli had changed so drastically compared to how they used to be. Thorn was such a good Queen when she started. Then, all of a sudden, she had changed, too. Maybe the fact that she was Queen had finally gone to her head. Thorn hadn't struck her as that kind of dragon, but anything was possible.

The Queen had gotten so bad that even her daughter, Sunny, didn't come by to visit anymore. The last time she had been here was four years ago. She had been fine until screams were heard in the night. When they investigated the source of the disturbance, Sunny was gone.

Thorn had been broken up over it, but maybe that was just an illusion. Or maybe that was what caused her downward spiral. Regardless, rumor had it that Sunny was back at Jade Mountain, and that she hadn't left the school ever since her return there. At least she has dragons who care about her there.

It was true. Sometimes she thought that she was alone here. Nobody cared about her, and nobody would miss her.

Since she was 'technically' family, she was allowed to enter the throne room whenever she liked. That's just what she did, too.

The guards opened the door for her at her approach, and she entered to see that Queen Thorn was talking with none other than her adopted son. Qibli saw her enter, and she saw a prideful smirk forming on his face at how stiff she was walking. For a split second, she second-guessed her decision to come here. She steeled her nerves before walking forward with as serious of an expression as she could.

Thorn turned at her approach, "Ah, Moon, is there something I can help you with?" She blinked in confusion before asking, "What happened to you?"

There was no concern in her voice, merely confusion. Moon glared at the smug Sandwing sitting next to the Queen, "He did," Moon almost growled.

Thorn glanced at her adopted son out of the corner of her eye before continuing, "I see. Well, I've told you before that it is your choice to stay here. Honestly, it baffles me that you still put up with him."

Moon's eyes flew open wide. "BAFFLES YOU!?" she screamed. "It baffles me that you won't tell me what happened to the dragon I loved!"

The Queen didn't flinch at her outburst. Rather, she narrowed her eyes, "Do try to keep a civil attitude, Moon. Qibli is in charge of running classified operations for me. Other than that, I can not tell you anything, so don't even bother asking me what kind of operations he runs." She turned back to Qibli and waved a claw at her dismissively, "Now if you don't mind, I have important business to attend to. The guards will see you out."

Moon just stared at her in bewilderment. She doesn't care that I've just been abused! That's it…time for desperate measures. Moon allowed herself to be lead out of the throne room and back to Qibli's room. It used to be her and Qibli's room, but he had made it abundantly clear that it was his, not hers.

She waited until the guards left her alone. She could sense their thoughts right outside the door. Apparently, she wasn't allowed to leave. I'll show them. Being as quiet and as quick as she could while being covered in bruises, she got her satchel and whatever supplies she might need that could be found in the room. She didn't have the luxury to stop anywhere else in the city. She would doubtlessly be caught that way.

Lastly, she grabbed a map of Pyrrhia and laid it on the table. Where should I go? Jade Mountain would be too obvious. I could make for the tunnel between here and the rainforest. Wait…no…the tunnel's guarded. I suppose I could try to ask one of the other Queens for asylum. I'm sure Glory or Ruby would be more than happy to accept. Though…there's no telling who Thorn might have on her payroll. It's best if I go somewhere isolated, then…but where?

She thought about it for several minutes before a memory, long buried, made its way to the surface of her mind: "If you ever need my help, Moon, come and find me. You can always count on me."

Was it a good idea, though? She knew—rather, she hoped—that he would help her, but she hadn't seen him in seven years. Not since the night he left. I may not know exactly where he went, but I know where to start looking. Besides, if I'm right, he's closest. I just have to hope that he'll keep his promise.

Now that she had a destination, she just had to escape unnoticed. There were guards on either side of the doors…doors that swung outward. She placed a claw on either door and pushed outward as hard as she could. She heard two loud cracks and subsequent clatters as both guards fell to the ground unconscious.

She couldn't help a small giggle before she gasped when shouts were heard down the hall. I guess they heard that…time to go!

She was at an extreme disadvantage since she couldn't move very fast due to her injuries, so she had to outsmart them. She broke a window when no one was looking before looking for a place to hide. No one ever goes into the dungeon unless they have to. They'll never look for me there!

With her plan decided on, she made her way undetected into the lowest levels of the palace and waited…and waited…and waited. There were no light sources down here, so she had no way to gauge the time, but she wanted to wait until darkness to leave. That way her scales would give her an advantage. No one would be able to see a flying Nightwing during the night.

After what she estimated to be about seven hours, she cautiously made her way to the door that lead to the arena. She cracked it open ever so slightly, and, seeing no one, leapt into the night sky and winged her way north towards the no-dragon's land between the Sand and Ice Kingdoms.

She timed this perfectly, too. It looked like the sun had just fallen judging by the position of the moons. The only problem in her plan was that she didn't know if she had to go northeast, north, or northwest. After about ten minutes of deliberation mid-flight, she decided on northeast, near the mountains.

After about four hours of flight, she made it to the edge of the desert. If she continued in this direction for another three hours, she would be at the border of the Ice Kingdom. That's not where she wanted to go, though.

She veered to the right slightly to adjust her course when she felt the wind picking up. Twenty minutes later, though, she was forced to land due to a blizzard that had come out of nowhere. She spent the next hour-and-a-half wandering through the storm blindly.

Another round of shivers from the freezing winds racked her frame. M-Maybe this wasn't such a g-good id-dea. She had already lost the feeling in her feet and ears, and she knew that meant she had frostbite. She had heard stories of dragons who lost entire limbs to frostbite—that's not even Icewing frostbreath either. If she stayed out here much longer, she would freeze to death.

Somehow, that thought didn't cause the mind-numbing fear that she thought it would. It would be so easy to just close my eyes and…wait…what was that. She thought she saw a flicker of light in the distance. Maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me, but I'll try it.

As she got closer, though, she could feel the minds of three dragons. Two were asleep…the other was wearing skyfire, so she couldn't tell who it was. Skyfire was rare, though. It could be…No…I shouldn't get my hopes up yet.

She stumbled around for another ten minutes until she found a door…in the side of a mountain. Beggars can't be choosers. Here we go! She raised her claws and knocked loudly three times.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She felt the minds of the two sleeping dragons wake up suddenly, and the third dragon was slowly walking towards the door. They were taking too long, though. She was literally freezing her tail off out here.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The door was ripped open, and a furious looking Icewing stood in the door before his anger flew away and was replaced by concern and disbelief, "M-Moon!?"

She wanted to smile at him. She wanted to reach forward and hug him and tell him how much she missed him, but whether from the relief at finding him, the exhaustion from the flight here, the cold, or a combination of all three, she could feel herself slipping slowly into unconsciousness. "W-W-Wint-ter-r, h-h-elp-p m-m-me," was the only thing she could say before darkness enveloped her vision, and she fell forward, unconscious.

AN: Hope that clears up a few things...and gives you a few more questions.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22