AN: Hey! This is of course my first fic, and I've decided to focus it around changing some things in book 10, namely Winter acting out of character. I'm going to implement his character development from book 7 and return the book 6 Qibli… And make Moon less selfish.
This is only going to be a few select scenes. If this story gets enough support I might end up rewriting more, but these are the scenes I specifically feel need rewriting. There are other scenes ofc but I'll get to it if I get to it.
Anyway, this chapter starts around Book 10's chapter 20 and ends at the start of chapter 22. It takes place from Winter's perspective, so I'll do my best to reference recent events so you can get a grasp of where we are. Happy reading!
Credits to Firehawk1100 for helping me with ideas and proofreading. Check him out for more awesome stuff, he's amazing!
Winter had been angry many times in his life. Hailstorm's capture, Icicle's betrayal, his winglet's stubbornness when they followed him into the Rainforest... All of it had made him angry before. But aside from his brother being taken away, he could barely recall a time when he was angrier than this.
He had gathered what he needed to know from listening to Darkstalker's conversations with Vulture, but it had proved pointless. There wasn't much new, just some brief mentions of how they would "Wipe out the Icewings forever" and how "Unstoppable" they would be.
His natural Icewing pride had made him initially scoff silently at these remarks. The Icewings had the strongest military in Phyrria. Every dragon, soldier or not, was trained for fighting and killing. Even if Darkstalker and his Nightwings managed to kill the army, which he found highly unlikely in and of itself, he would be far too drained to fight the impromptu military force waiting for him within the Ice Kingdom, let alone survive the Ice Wall protecting it.
But he knew that was wrong. Darkstalker was an Animus. And now, he had an army of extremely strong, fast and resilient dragons willing to fight by him, and he himself had impenetrable scales. No matter how strong the Icewing army was, Darkstalker could enchant his own to match it with a tap of his talons. He could shatter the Ice wall with a feather, melt every Icewing he touched, and nobody would be able to stop him. Not Qibli. Not Turtle. Not Moon.
Not even himself.
His mind painfully flashed to Moon and he winced. She was this close- practically in the next room, it felt like- and he had chosen to listen in on Darkstalker instead of meeting her again. And even then, the sacrifice was in vain, since he learned nothing useful. He thought about how he would be unable to protect her from Darkstalker, or the Nightwings, when they were all so easily able to overpower him.
Protect her, a Nightwing, from Darkstalker- three moons, what is wrong with me?
Besides, now she's with Qibli, he thought grimly, She'll be happy with him and I'll never have to see her again... This didn't help to alleviate the feeling that Qibli was stealing Moon from him. He sometimes wanted to shove Qibli out of his life, so it could just be him and Moon, without the intrusive Sandwing who never knew when to stop. At the same time, however, an Icewing ex-prince and a Nightwing mind reader... Maybe it really was for the best that Qibli got her.
He paced around, his tail lashing about subconsciously. Why couldn't he just hate Moon? His gaze drifted to the sleeping Seawing princess in the room. At least he wasn't completely alone to his own thoughts. He'd usually have preferred that, but in this case it was nice to have some form of company, if one he didn't entirely like.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wingbeats, and he turned toward the sounds, half-expecting a Nightwing sentry. He was relieved to see it was only Qibli.
"You've been gone a long time." Winter commented.
"I found her," Qibli said softly, glancing briefly at Anenome, then back to Winter. "Come with me."
They took off from the palace and Winter followed Qibli's lead, flying around to a good angle for viewing the balconies. Winter didn't like it. It was exposed enough that they would be fairly easy to see should any curious Nightwings want to catch a breath of fresh air. Once again Qibli brought him back to reality. "Listen, be careful to what you say to Moon, alright? She doesn't have skyfire of her own. Darkstalker can read her mind as easily as a scroll, so I haven't told her about Turtle, the Icewings, or anything else that could put her in danger. She thinks we're just here to figure out the prophecy, and it's gotta stay that way until we can find some way to shield her thoughts. You catch all that?"
Winter snorted. "We shouldn't keep details that important from our allies."
Qibli stopped scanning the balconies and turned toward him, confusion evident on his face. "You don't like keeping secrets? Who are you and what have you done with Winter?"
"There's a difference between personal secrets and a plague coming to wipe out my entire tribe." Winter retorted.
Qibli returned to surveying the buildings. "Just consider it's for Moon's safety. I don't like it either, but we'll be able to tell her soon enough."
Winter made no further comment and the rest of the flight was silent, until Qibli nudged him with his wing, indicating something from one balcony. As Winter looked, wings unfurled from the darkness, their color changing to make spiraling patterns that almost looked like Seawing markings in how they seemed to glow. Winter knew it before the Sandwing even mentioned it.
"Kinkajou," Qibli said, diving toward the Balcony. Winter followed him, watching as Kinkajou noticed them and waved enthusiastically. He stared in surprise as Qibli adjusted his talons and swept not around but into the little Rainwing, sending the two barreling into the room in a tight hug. Kinkajou was giggling hysterically as they slid and crashed into a pile of cushions.
"Ack, sorry!" Qibli said with a fiendish grin, helping Kinkajou up, but she merely redoubled in laughter at that.
"Are you kidding? I wish everyone said hi to me that way!" She said, a little louder than Winter thought necessary as he landed and immediately turned toward Moon. He felt a weird twist in his gut as it occurred to him, had he ever told her about how he felt? Did she still think he hated her deep down? He watched her nervous expression in dismay. Was she... scared of him?
She'd better be, a part of him thought. I'm an Icewing. She's a Nightwing. She should fear me.
And yet... he thought somberly, Look where that way of thinking got me. Angry, confused, conflicted, saddened... I haven't even apologized to her about what I did, leaving her at Possibility, then coming back just to get into an argument about who should have the power from Darkstalker's scroll... He felt he was somewhat justified in both cases, but was a little shameful about it nonetheless.
He wanted so badly for it to be possible, that him and her could be together. He internally chided himself about such thoughts, but he felt he should at least do what he hadn't done yet and apologize, or just say something to comfort her, with the dismayed look on her face.
He opened his mouth to say something, and hesitated. The moment of hesitation was all Kinkajou needed to interrupt.
"I can't believe you two are here!" She said excitedly, running up to Winter and pulling him into a hug. Winter wasn't sure it was appropriate to return the hug, but didn't need to as Kinkajou pulled away. "Oh, BRRRR, I forgot how cold you are." She said, jumping back and whacking herself with her wings.
"I'm... Relieved to see that you're recovered," Winter said slowly, feeling like he was treading on recently frozen ice. Talking to Kinkajou was like juggling an explosive cactus; anything could set her off into noises louder than Winter had thought possible from a dragon so small, which was the last thing they needed on their stealth mission.
"I know, it's awesome," She replied, "Anemone totally healed me. Except it's also not awesome because she also-"
Winter hastily decided he didn't want to hear Kinkajou wake up all the dragons in in Phyrria by explaining why she was angry at Anemone. That could wait. He turned toward Moon, mustering his courage to say something. "And you," He said with a slight smile, walking over and touching the earring in her ear. "On me the earring looks hideous, but I sort of like it on you." This wasn't entirely true, he wasn't sure what to think of the earring on her. He continued. "And better yet, it means you're free."
"Earring?" Kinkajou said curiously. "Wait, why does everyone have a matching earring except me? Is this some sort of secret club thing? Can I be in it? Why aren't I in it already?" She demanded.
Moon's smile vanished as Qibli explained the situation to Kinkajou. She wasn't listening though, she just stared at Winter with a concerned look. "What do you mean 'I'm free'?"
"Of Darkstalker's evil spells," Winter clarified, "You see what he's really like now... What he really is... Right, Moon?"
"I wasn't under any 'evil spells'," Moon said, taking a step back, and tearing a hole in Winter's heart at the same time. He knew what she was about to say, but it still hurt just as much. "He's just my friend."
"He's- Your- Y-" Winter sputtered. He nearly forgot they were in the Nightwing capitol, but tried to remain quiet once he remembered. He lowered his voice to a slightly quieter shout, letting out a small amount of anger in the form of lashing his tail and spreading his wings. "He's your WHAT!?" He choked, and Moon backed away another pace. This time, Winter stepped forward. She wasn't going to back out of this. "Moon, why!? Why would you choose to be friends with someone so... So thoroughly evil!?"
"He's not evil!" Moon reprimanded him, and Winter ignored Qibli stepping toward the two. "He's trying to do the right thing! So maybe he has some problems, and he's not right in how he's trying to do it, but you weren't exactly perfect when you entered Jade Mountain, and now look at you! Give him a chance like we gave you one!"
Winter wasn't sure whether to take it as a compliment since he was being called 'perfect' (Or in his mind, that's how he interpreted it), or to be furious that she was comparing him with Darkstalker. He was about to retort, hissing slightly beforehand, until Moon's expression turned... strangely horrified? But before she could speak, Qibli got between the two, extending a talon toward each of them.
"Alright, that's enough! We don't need this fighting! I'm sure both of you want answers, but there's better ways of going about this than yelling at eachother like drunk camels!" He said in the quietest loud voice Winter had ever heard. He backed off a pace, then regained his composure. He didn't have time to deal with Qibli. Moon wasn't getting a free pass, no matter what.
"The right thing? How can you call trying to kill my entire tribe the right thing!?" He continued. Qibli looked frustrated, and Moon backed up again.
"Winter, I said that's enough!" Qibli said with slightly increased volume.
"That's easy for you to say! What if Darkstalker had tried to kill your whole tribe, and Moon still wanted to be his friend?" Winter responded. That shut Qibli down quickly, him looking down slightly. Winter was satisfied he had finally won an argument with Qibli until he turned to look at Moon.
Moon had taken this opportunity to back off even more, and was shying away from him in a corner to make herself appear smaller. His anger melted away faster that he had thought possible in a moment, resurfacing moments later in a lessened state.
Winter sighed and turned around, walking to the opposite wall. He looked at a vase next to him. He wanted very dearly to smash it into a thousand pieces to show how he felt, but a glance from Kinkajou told him he shouldn't. It wouldn't make things any better, he knew. But this… this betrayal was almost too much for him to handle.
Qibli turned to Moon and led her to a corner. He didn't quite hear what they said to each other after that, but he caught Moon mention the word 'brainwashed' and Qibli nodded. As the two spoke, Moon's expression both softened and grew more somber at the same time.
She approached him, shaking slightly, and he was a little heartbroken to see her so terrified of him. He made a neutral expression, though anger was still present in his body language. She was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, Winter. I didn't know. When he promised we'd all be safe, I thought he meant he wouldn't use any spells on us at all… I was thinking too small, as well. I should've asked him not to harm the Icewings, either."
Winter snorted a small cloud of ice particles. He wasn't readily about to forgive her, but a thought crossed his mind; she had done the thing he had failed to do so many times. Even after learning that her friend was a monster and a liar, after he had yelled at her once again and scared her so badly, the first thing she did was apologize.
He admired that about her... And envied her.
He opened his mouth, closed it, then spoke softly. He hated himself for saying it, everything in his instinct said no. But he was over acting purely on his tribe's culture and his own anger. He had done that for so long, and he knew where it ended. "I... forgive you."
Moon smiled and placed a talon on his shakily. Winter didn't return the smile, but after a moment she turned away and looked at Qibli. "Is... Is there anything else I should know? I want to know everything." She said in an almost accusatory tone. Qibli shrugged.
"It's... Complicated." He said reluctantly.
Winter shook his head. "She already knows that he brainwashed me. No point in not telling her the rest." He said, and though it looked like Qibli was about to object, Winter started speaking before he got the chance. Moon needed to hear this, he wasn't about to let the Sandwing stop him.
He explained everything to her and Kinkajou as they waited patiently. The Icewing curse, the army ready to wipe out any surviving Icewings, the earrings, Qibli's family, Turtle... He spared no details.
He was almost grimly satisfied to see Moon's expression darken at the mention of the Icewing curse. "That's why he seemed so... elated," she said slowly, "around the time you mentioned... He looked very pleased with himself."
Winter nodded, and Qibli spoke up. "With you knowing all this, Moon, we'd better get you away from Darkstalker. I think we'll need to bring you away from the Night kingdom entirely, because if he learns about this, we're all dead."
"That won't be necessary," Said a voice from the window. "I have skyfire."
AN: I know for a fact I'll be continuing this into the next chapter. This was actually super fun to write, since I sort of had the guidelines of the book to work from, but I could put my own interpretation on how things might have gone, and gave insight as to what Winter's thoughts might have been like.
I tried to bring back the rational Qibli with having him stop the argument, because honestly that was something we lost after book 7. Hope you enjoyed that! Critique and comments are welcome (As long as it's at least somewhat helpful and not "It's not the original book thus it must die" lol), and if you want to leave a heart or a follow that'd boost my ever-growing ego tremendously. Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!
(Also, for those curious, I'll be updating this fic at a rate of one chapter per week, likely releasing on Thursdays. So a new chapter every week!)