"Tails!" Arid finished as he shot up from his bed. Wait, bed? Wasn't he just in the medical cave? Did it all really start over again? Just like that?
"Dude, are you okay?" Garnet asked him at the same time.
"NOPE!" He practically shouted. Garnet looked startled and mumbled something about breakfast as they left the cave together. They entered the prey center, grabbed some meat (A different one, he didn't want food poisoning again) and sat down by Barracuda, only to be joined by Carnelian, again, for the third time. This time, Arid spoke first after the introduction.
"Everyone, this is Carnelian, my cousin. Carnelian, this is some of my winglet. This is Arid and that is Barracuda." Garnet introduced, again.
"Carnelian, why don't you just sit with your winglet?" He asked her. The SkyWing looked up at him, startled. She hadn't been expecting that. Arid watched this all play out, silently.
"Because-" Carnelian started but, Garnet stopped her.
"Oh! Let's go sit with them! You can introduce us!"
"Well-" Carnelian tried to speak again as she glanced at her winglet. Garnet followed their gaze and grabbed Carnelian,
"Come on! Let's go!" Carnelian looked furious and embarrassed as Arid got up to follow. He wasn't going to let Garnet embarrass his cousin in front of her entire winglet today. Not that it'd matter. They wouldn't remember.
"Hello!" Garnet said as he forced Carnelian to sit down. Arid calmly sat down next to her.
"Hi!" Kinkajou said, "Carnelian! You brought friends!" The little RainWing looked very excited about new dragons. She was much different now than she was the night before. Kinkajou was seated next to a NightWing, who, if Arid could correctly remember the night before, was her 'BEST FRIEND in the whole WORLD!'. The black dragon looked like she was ready to jump from her seat, leave and never come back.
There was a SandWing. He looked mostly familiar. With an up-close look, he recognized him as Qibli. He was loyal to Queen Thorn. Arid thought he was very respectable, even though it looked like he was figuring out ten ways to beat him all at once. It made Arid feel uncomfortable.
Another was a SeaWing. They were a male and wore a gold armband with black stones embedded into it. He was green with a slightly lighter underbelly. He looked calm and collected compared to the jumpy NightWing sitting with him.
The last two were both MudWings. The female was larger than the male but was still small. She had quite brown scales and brown eyes. Arid assumed the boy was her brother. He was small, also had brown scales and light amber eyes.
"I'm Garnet, Carnelian's cousin!" Garnet introduced to the group, slightly opening his wings in a small greeting, "And this is Arid! Our best friend!" He did his best not to laugh at that. Carnelian's best friend? Srid was sure that Carnelian didn't have best friends.
The NightWing gave a small wave as Kinkajou took the liberty of introducing all of them. Carnelian look to Arid and mouthed the words 'Help me'.
"This is Moon, my best friend. Turtle, Qibli, Umber and his sister, Sora!" Qibli and Turtle gave them smiles and Arid returned one.
"Arid, you don't look familiar, did you live in the Scorpion den?" he asked suddenly. Arid's mind flashed back to his past for a moment before answering.
"No, I was on Burn's side but honestly," He smiled, "I am so glad Queen Thorn got the throne instead. Burn would've been a disaster." Qibli gave a smile and a quick nod in response and turned to his food. He seemed much calmer now.
Out of all of them, Moon spoke the least often, only jumping into the conversation to add in bits and pieces.
She had these two silver teardrop scales by her eyes. At first, Arid had thought they were embedded gems or something. They weren't. They were pretty but, none of the other NightWings had silver scales by their eyes. Well, except Fatespeaker.
He looked at Carnelian and an image of the explosion and her dead body flashed through his mind. Arid shook his head and finished up his food.
"Whelp, we have History, I'm going to head over there." He said, standing up. Garnet agreed and followed him out. Arid turned back once more to give the group a passing glance and found Carnelian looking at him for a moment before she quickly turned away. The SandWing sighed. History class is the worst.
History went quickly and Arid headed off to the library this time around. Thankfully, this time, no one had gotten food poisoning.
Last time, Garnet had told him that he and Carnelian were in the library. That meant that she was in there. He paused near the entrance when he caught sight of her. She was in the corner reading a small scroll. The shadows reflected off her scales, giving them a deeper feel. He smiled as he walked in, planning out a reason to be there.
Arid headed off in her direction before ultimately deciding that it'd be weird if he approached her head on and instead grabbed a random scroll off a shelf and sat down near her.
Carnelian let out a soft snarl as he sat down and her grip on her scroll strengthened. She was angry.
"Uh, sorry?" He quickly apologized, not wanting to make her angry. Carnelian looked surprised as he spoke. She hadn't noticed him yet. Their eyes met and Arid relaxed a bit.
"What?" She asked, clearly confused.
"You snarled as I came over here, your not mad right?" He asked cautiously. Carnelian gave a small smile for just one moment. The smile disappeared as quickly as it'd came. Arid remembered that Garnet said she was battle hardened. She didn't want to show weakness. Did happiness really count as weakness?
"No, I was just denied my request to head back to the army by the Queen." The SkyWing let out a short, longing sigh. Arid wanted to comfort her for a moment before remembering that she probably wouldn't want it.
"You really want to return to the war that badly?" The memory of Carnelian's charred and dead body hung ominously in his mind.
"I want to be a general." She told him bluntly, despite his worried expression.
"Then maybe you should stay at school. You could learn some useful things Carnelian." He told her, trying to make his voice sounding meaningful. She thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"I don't feel like I belong here. I'm fine in the army. I'm a good fighter and can handle myself. This school can't teach me anything useful for life out there Arid." And with that, she left. Leaving Arid alone with memories of her dead body hanging over his head.
Arid wandered the halls after deciding to skip art class. He passed a few dragons before coming up at the entrance to the History cave. He knew that it would explode soon. Arid watched as Kinkajou and most of her winglet came up. The NightWing, Moon, collapsed as she held her head. Everyone ducked around her as Carnelian strode down the hallway. Moon kept muttering about the danger.
"Hey, Carnelian," Qibli called out the SkyWing who had been very close to the entrance, "Don't go in there."
"Why?" She demanded, annoyance in her tone as she looked at the SandWing.
"Uh," He said, stumbling for an excuse, "One of the torches got all smokey, the whole cave smells. Needs to air out."
"Smells fine to me," Carnelian growled at him before continuing onward. Arid stepped out and stopped her.
"Carnelian, I need to ask you something." He called, hoping that she'd listen. The SkyWing looked at him, the classroom, then him again before slowly coming over.
"I left my notes on my desk from my History class, think you could-" He began before the bomb went off. Both he and Carnelian where blown into the wall and the world went black.
"-just a head injury." Arid heard someone say as he slowly began to open his eyes. His winglet surrounded him and were all looking at Ermine as she reassured them that he'd be fine. Beside him lay an awake Carnelian, her head was bandaged up but other than that, she looked fine.
"And here he is," Carnelian grumbled as his eyes fully opened. They all turned to look at him with joyful expressions.
"Hey-" Arid was cut off as Garnet gave him a huge hug, something that he would've never expected from the SkyWing. He fell back from the force before The SkyWing let go.
"Dude! I'm so glad you're okay!" He told the SandWing. The group spoke for a while before they all left. Leaving him and a now asleep Carnelian alone.
Arid knew that the day would restart in a few hours so he just waited. To his surprise, someone actually came in. Kinkajou had come in earlier and left, this was her NightWing friend. Moon. Why is she here?
"Hey," She said nervously, taking a seat near his bed. He remembered the time before when he and Kinkajou had spoken. She'd told him of her NightWing friend who had kept a secret from her.
"Hi, do you, uh, need something?" He asked, trying to sound as polite as possible. She looked at him for a moment before shaking her head.
"I wanted to... Thank you for saving Carnelian." The NightWing said slowly. She looked like she wasn't all there. Like part of her was distracted and listening to someone else. He looked over at Carnelian.
It was either that or watch her die again. He thought calmly while looking over the sleeping SkyWing.
"Sorry what?" Moon asked, startling him. Arid turned back to face her. Her eyes were wide, as if she hadn't meant to say that aloud. The NightWing quickly fixed her face, looking calm once more.
"What?"
"Oh, nevermind." She whispered, turning to look at the floor. The SandWing, however, was not fooled.
What if your NightWing in your winglet had powers? Like mind reading and future sight, and they kept that from you? And, they were your BEST FRIEND in the WHOLE WORLD! Arid remembered Kinkajou telling him. Was she telling the truth? There was really only one way to find out without being weird.
Can you read minds? Arid thought, trying to direct his thoughts at her. The dragon looked surprised. So she could read minds.
"This was a mistake." She mumbled before quickly leaving the room. Arid flopped back onto the bed and closed his eyes.
It had been one eventful day.
As Arid slept, his earring began to glow again, bringing him back to the start of the day.
AN-
Sorry for not updating in a while! I've been busy with school work and been really distracted recently... *Insert more excuses here* Anyway, feel free to review and point out anything I did wrong or anything you would like to happen! Thanks!
- Leederlee