Heeey. I'm back with chapter 10. I know the last chapter kinda ended on a cliffy, but don't they all? Anyway, as always, It'll be two chapters before you'll find out what happens to Glory, so just bear with me!
Anyway, thanks for popping by. So as not to keep you waiting, let's cut this short and jump straight into chapter 10. Enjoy!
Starflight's (POV)
As soon as I say it, I regret it. I feel so awful just thinking about all the possibilities of her definite fate that are so likely to occur. Voicing my terrifying but all too true thoughts is a whole nother level of regret, knowing that if we'd known sooner, we could have prevented this whole ordeal.
I can tell Tsunami feels a similar way, although her reaction is more…insanitary.
As soon as I mention the word 'death,' her pupils dilate unnaturally, and she rolls over onto her other side. Whatever dinner she had in her makes a reappearance, which makes me wince in disgust and in guilt for ever mentioning the possibilities.
"Sorry," she croaks, her voice filled with the sound of bad taste and a hint of embarrassment as she rolls back over to face me.
"Not to worry," I reply, although my eyes seemingly involuntarily keep darting over at the small mess of puke. "I know, it was a lot to take in. All bodies have somewhat different reactions to extreme news, whether it's good, bad, or neither."
Tsunami nods and gazes at the stars, silent for a while. "Do you really think they'd go that far as to kill Glory?" she finally asks, lifting her head.
"It's possible." I open my mouth to say something else, but decide against it based on the unappealing reaction given by Tsunami just previously. Unfortunately, she notices my hesitance and urges me on.
"You were going to say something, weren't you?" she says, a hint of curiosity in her teasing voice.
"Well, I'm afraid that if I do, you might be sick again."
Tsunami makes a laughable effort to tighten her body and put on a straight face, as if to show me that nothing more is coming out.
I laugh as intended but immediately fall silent, sincerely worried for not just Tsunami's reaction, but for my own as well. Even though I already know what I want to say, hearing it aloud may bring something different to my senses.
"Come on," she pushes playfully, but I can tell she's really wanting to know. "I'll try to keep it down. It doesn't happen often, and you know that." It was true. Tsunami almost never puked, and when she did, it was only because of horrible news like such, or because of a stomach bug or food poisoning, which was rather rare.
"Okay," I reluctantly agree. I choose my next words as carefully as I can, drawing in a deep breath. "Death is a rather…possible fate for Glory." Tsunami nods, and I'm relieved to see that no expression of horror has crossed her face, the news not being new to her.
"And as we all know," I continue, talking rather slowly. "Scarlet prefers slower, more entertaining deaths." Tsunami nods again, although this time a shudder accompanies it, as if remembering watching the dragons fight to death for Scarlet's entertainment.
"So, say death was Glory's ultimate fate, she'd want it to be even more slow and cruel as payback for what Glory did to her." Tsunami struggles to keep her straight face, and her worst fears seem to be coming true at my very words.
"But that's not even the worst part," I say next, watching Tsunami closely. She forces a large swallow down her throat, as if to rid the nervousness building up.
"I think that…" I trail off but regain my voice. "I think that she would want her fate to be over slowly yet in a timely fashion so as to not give us time to rescue her." I see her face fall as realization dawns. I myself am fighting back tears, but I contain them just long enough to say the next line. "Which means…which means she most likely would've taken care of her already."
This does it for the both of us. Neither of us can hold back the thin streams of water dripping from our dull eyes.
Our weeping subsides a little, but by dawn we're still practically pouring our eyes out over the saddening, heart-breaking thought.
A couple hours after dawn breaks, Sunny and Clay awake, I'm assuming partly from the time of day, but also partly from our choked sobs.
"What's going on? Is everything okay?" Clay asks, immediately realizing mine and Tsunami's state.
Sunny instantly picks up on it, adding, "yeah, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Tsunami attempts to say, although it's incoherent mixed with her tears.
"Seriously," Clay urges, worry etching his prominent brown features.
"We were just realizing the-the horrible fates that Scarlet would have planned for Glory," I say shakily, managing to make myself coherent. "And how death is a very likely possibility." Clay and Sunny both turn very pale.
"And…and how that if death was her fate, Scarlet would've most likely taken care of her already." Sunny breaks down in tears, and Clay hugs her, seeming on the verge of tears herself.
"But we wouldn't know for sure, right?" Clay asks.
"Not for sure, no, but I can't think of anything else just as likely," I say, clearly not being very reassuring at all.
"We shouldn't stop searching," Sunny says through tears.
"No, definitely not. There's still hope she's out there." Tsunami makes watery eye contact with me, and I nod.
"I suggest we start looking as soon as possible," I say. Everyone agrees to leave as soon as Jambu and Parrot wake up, which is quite a long time.
After about an hour or so, Tsunami shakes them awake, wanting to get going.
"What?" Jambu mumbles sleepily, half-opening his eyes.
"Let's go," Tsunami says with a slight snap to her voice.
"Go where?" I see Tsunami roll her eyes. I guess lazy RainWing brains don't work that well in the morning.
"To go find Glory. To Scarlet's palace," Tsunami says.
"Ohhhh," Jambu realizes. Then his face turns upside down. "Right now?"
"Yes. We might not have much time left. We've got to do it as quickly as possible."
"After all, she is one of us," I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn around with everyone else to see Parrot wide awake and ready to go.
"At least he's ready to go," Tsunami mumbles. Jambu is awake in a matter of minutes with a few threats and bared teeth from Tsunami.
We take off the minute we get the chance to, which is after Clay packs himself a good breakfast.
"What?" He says. Tsunami rolls her eyes. "I can't go flying on an empty stomach. Who knows if we'll find anything good to eat on the way?"
As we fly, I get an even wider aerial shot of the rainforest kingdom which is beautiful from above.
We take many, many breaks along the way.
When dusk hits, we settle in a warm cove in the outskirts of the mud kingdom. I can't sleep, and neither can Tsunami or Clay.
Sunny nestles in the warmth of Clay's massive wings and falls asleep almost immediately from exhaustion.
I sit at the edge of the cove and stare out at the stars, feeling the cool night breeze brush my midnight black scales.
Clay joins me, and we both look out at the stars and three moons in silence for a while.
Clay sighs heavily, and I look at him, knowing immediately what his sigh was for. He wants to visit the mud kingdom and try to find his family like we all do.
"We'll go there someday," I reassure him. "When we have a full group." Our sole mission was to get Glory back. Clay looks wistfully out at the swamps ahead. His talons dig satisfyingly into the soft earthy mud in the marshy area outside of our cove.
Tsunami then walks over to us, but her look is more distant, and I can tell what she's thinking about. I sit down beside her and gaze at the stars for a while, as she is doing.
"You know," I start, not really knowing what I'm saying. "It's all going to be alright. Glory's strong. Plus, maybe Scarlet would want a fight from her friends to get her back before she finishes her off." Tsunami looks at me with glossy eyes.
"B-but," Tsunami stutters, which surprises me because Tsunami never stutters. "But you said she already most likely finished her off."
"Yeah, but I wasn't sure. There's still a two percent chance," I reassure her, although I know that a two percent chance is not very reassuring. But she takes it anyway.
"Then I'm going for that two percent chance." She stands up, her eyes gaining some livelihood again. "Let's get going."
"Wait, hold on." I stop her from moving. "We have to rest. Or else we'll be too tired to get Glory out of Scarlet's palace. Tsunami sits back down, frowning slightly and grunting.
"Don't worry," I say. "We'll find her. Whatever it takes."
So, that was chapter 10, hope you enjoyed it. I never knew Tsunami cared so much about Glory in this fic. Anyway, thanks for reading. Please review, follow, favorite, any of that awesome stuff. Have a wonderful day!
See ya in the next one.
Ducky :)