Storms of Dust

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-·~❖· STORMS OF DUST·❖~·-
 A history fanfiction of my Character Rose Gold 
Time's a ticking
:
Heavy talons smashed into the gold-speckled sand, sending clouds of dust and grime billowing around them. Merchandise, food, silks were sent flying into the air as various street vendors flinched and jerked away from the mob of wings, tails, and claws. 
Amidst the commotion, two little shadows snuck over to an abandoned stand—the owner most likely fled to get a good look at the hustle—and snatched up the grubby-peeled fruits.
Rose Gold turned the dragonfruit around, and inspected its muted magenta skin, topped with delicate lime fades. 
“It’s edible, I think,” she whispered to the bony little creature behind her. 
Stepping out into the open, Sandstone peered around, muscles tensed and vigilant. 
“What if they come back and find it’s gone? What if they’re actually watching us right now?? What if—”
“Who cares?” Rose Gold snapped, “They left the dragonfruits, so they’re bound to know dragons are going to steal them!”
	
Sandstone’s head drooped.
“I miss mommy,” he lamented out loud.
Rose Gold exhaled through her nose, causing her ripped sail to ripple and flutter. “They’re gone. Both of ‘em. There’s no use in caring about them anymore.”
Sandstone nodded, although hesitantly. It was apparent to Rose Gold that he still couldn’t get over his ‘incident’.
Not like me. Sandstone’s too frail to experience my life. 
Rose sliced the dragonfruit open, licking off the little juice that had squirted onto her talons. The shriveled insides were edible, Rose could see that, but wouldn’t be as tasty as she’d hoped for. Succumbing to her bad fortune, Rose Gold tossed half of the fruit over to Sandstone, neatly dicing the meat inside her own half, spearing them on her gold-tipped claws. Scrambling to catch it, Sandstone barely managed to catch his half, scrunching his little snout in disappointment. 
“Eat it. You won’t get anything better here in this dump,” Rose said roughly.
Sandstone rolled his eyes, trying to manage the grin that was slowly beginning to creep up his face. He peeled back the dusty skin from the fruit, sinking his sharp teeth into the soft meat. 
Rose smiled and went back to her own half, thinking.
This is the happiest I’ve seen him in days. Maybe his parents did him a favor by losing him. 
Picking off the most delectable looking fruits off the piles, Rose’s ears piqued up, hearing the faint sounds of pounding talons. 
“Hey! Watcha doing you nasty dragonets!”
The shout was enough to arouse Sandstone, who’d been burrowing into the nearby stores. Rose snatched a few of the remaining dragonfruits she’d selected, flinging them into a makeshift pouch of curtain fabric slung over her shoulder. 
“C’mon!” Rose called, noticing the thickset shapes hurtling towards them. 
Sandstone leapt, unfurling his petite wings to bat at the air, rather uselessly, in Rose’s opinion. She sprang away from the mess of fabrics, sand and merchandise, claws sinking into the soft, warm sand, kicking up the dust as she ran. Rose twisted her head backwards, towards the bulky SandWing who’d shouted at her. 
The SandWing was busy counting the remaining fruits, his dirt filled claws smearing grime all over them. Rose knew from the darkening in his eyes that the SandWing had found out about the fruits she’d eaten with Sandstone. 
Seizing Sandstone’s tail, Rose dove behind a curtain of musty silk, pulling her friend with her. The steady pounding of talons increased, becoming heavier and heavier, making Rose Gold clamp her talons around her and Sandstone’s snouts. 
A few minutes past. Trickling down like the sand in one of those delicate fancy hourglasses Sandstone loved to look at. A rough sniffing could be heard, the scrape of scales against bricks, and a thick smell of roasted camels, mingled with the steady increase of heat.
A meaty, dagger-edged claw reached under the curtains, hooking onto the stray strands of thread that hung dead from the silk. Rose could feel Sandstone’s beating heart, the tensing of his muscles, as if preparing to attack. 
The curtains were ripped away, shredded, and fell to the floor. Cool air rushed in, as dust arose, leaving their attacker coughing and swatting at the air. Two seconds later, he looked back at the mess of sand and sheets. Nothing was there, except the two trails of talonprints sunk deep into the soft sand.
-·-❖· - ·❖-·-
An irritable rattling was heard, even as Rose Gold clamped her talons over her folded ears. The source of the noise came from Sandstone, who was tapping his tail on the pile of dry coconut shells. Rose hissed fire onto the cracked candle wicks, placing it into a candle holder. 
“You okay?” Rose approached Sandstone tentatively, letting the candle illuminate their grungy ‘hideout’. 
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Sandstone sniffled, wrapping his wings around the ragged thing he was holding.
“No, you’re not. You’re hugging Pretzel,” Rose Gold said, gently. 
She pried Sandstone’s wings away and reached towards the limp figure in his claws. Hooked in Rose’s claws, was a stuffed toy snake, hastily stitched out of curtain fabric, stuffed with cotton and sand. Pretzel lay there, swinging feebly from the all motion. 
“Tell me what’s going on, please,” pleaded Rose. “You’ve been acting weird for weeks. What is it?”
“I—I just want to be left alone,” snapped Sandstone, snatching Pretzel out of Rose’s talons. 
Anger built up within Rose Gold, irritation, and annoyance at her uncooperative ‘adoptive’ brother. 
“Fine! I’ll leave!”
Storming out of the hut, Rose took deep breaths of the chilly night air. Although it was blazing hot during the day, the sun disappeared along with the warmth at night. 
Shivering slightly, Rose bounded towards the top of the dune, candle holder in mouth, enjoying the rush of refreshing air around her. The ‘hut’ she’d built was more of a burrow, the sides strengthened by clay and mud and stones, the entrance barely visible amid the sheets of sand. She could see the Scorpion Den from the dune. Rose watched the glimmering lights of lanterns and fire, listening to the raucous voices of dragons within. 
An outcast from the beginning, that’s plucky, Rose mused, nestling into the sand.
She could remember those days. The first, few, glorious days, where she’d been coddled and adored and, most of all, loved. Those large, warm talons gently lifting her into the air, the squeaks of delight that followed, all those memories, still crystal clear in Rose’s mind. But as they say, there is not light without a shadow. The darkness that followed the pretty, fantasy memories haunted Rose as well, and she knew that they would forever be there, lurking in the dark.
There was no use in looking back, Rose knew. Memories could be pleasant, but they were fleeting, and cruel once they leave you. 
A scuffling sound made her snap her neck around. The sound of a desperate thing scrambling away from the falling tufts of sand it had caused climbing up the dune. 
As Rose lifted the candle holder towards the disturbance, she saw the animal clearly in the light. It was a sand cat. With large eyes, stumpy little legs, and large ears almost the size of their face, Rose could not describe it in any other way except adorable. 
It squeaked in surprise as it saw the towering dragon, tumbling down the dune in surprise. Rose watched the little cat bound away, probably to climb another dune.
Even the animals hate me, she sighed. Rose looked back towards her hideout, which was almost completely obscured by sand. She bounded down the dune, towards the Scorpion Den, the sand scraping against her rough paw-pads.
-·-❖· - ·❖-·-
The Den was at its most rowdy, with the sound of vendors advertising their merchandise, dragons running through the streets, roars, and general chaos. Rose Gold wrapped her trusty translucent sunset-colored scarf around her neck, the black onyx beads settling into the crevices of her horns. 
“Get ya coconuts! Get ya coconuts here now!”
“Wanna go get some of those gold coins?”
“Bet you anything he’ll win!”
Laughter followed the raucous shouts, and a large SandWing tottered about, staggering into the stalls on the sides, sending cactus cider, camel hides, and obviously fake jewelry flying about. The torches crackled. Blood-red scales flashed past as a… SkyWing? Rose Gold thought, surprised. Although the Den was a nest of criminals, con-artists, and assassins of many tribes, it was rare for one of hoity-toity SkyWings to descend down to this kind of level.
She slipped between the stalls, down to a darker part of the alley, where lanterns were the only source of light. Not many dragons entered the Black Market, a darker side of the Scorpion Den, which traded illegal weapons, such as dragonfire cacti bombs, dragonbite viper venom, and jewels stolen from royals (most of this supply came from the treasure Blister stole back during the SandWing succession). There were rumors of animi among those at the Black Market, but Rose never cared about them. Animi were just myths, creepy old dragons with magic that made them go crazy. Why would they even use it in the first place if they were going to go crazy because of it?
Rose Gold shook the dust of her tail, slinking in between the shadowy stalls. Here, no one advertised what they had on display. They didn’t need to. The gruesome items caught the eye enough without any yells or screeches. Skulls, RainWing-scale coats, the barbs of SandWings, SilkWing scales. 
Rose maintained a cool, undisturbed expression as she observed the grisly artifacts. Features from various dragon tribes seemed to be the trend lately, and Rose suppressed a sick feeling, thinking about all the dragons who’d died to contribute to other’s wealth. 
But by now, Rose had reached her destination. A dark stall hidden in an abandoned circus tent, the faded reds and yellows seemingly inappropriate for its current setting. Stepping into the tent, Rose Gold brushed away the stray threads of fabric. 
Two ice blue eyes blinked open, a third eyelid sliding smoothly off them. They shone in the murky darkness, and, although Rose had seen them before, a chill ran down her spine, making her sail tremble, just slightly. Slowly, a dark-finned SeaWing emerged from the gloom. Tattooed with swirls of black ink, obscuring the glow-scales on the wings, the three-lidded eyes staring unblinking, at Rose Gold. 
The air seemed to suddenly turn cold. Only when Rose remembered that she was standing stupidly in front of the SeaWing did she speak.
“Atticus?”
“Greetings, Rose Gold,” Atticus leered, curling his upper lip to reveal ink-stained teeth. “My favorite customer, well, what do you want this time?”
“I… I uh, wanted to ask, do you have any um… royal scrolls around here that I could maybe uh, read?” Rose mentally smacked herself for her stupidity.
“Reading?” Atticus hissed, surprised, “I don’t have many scrolls you know, and the ones I do require… a rather heavy price.”
“I won’t take them, I can read them here if you want,” suggested Rose. 
Atticus’s eyes flitted around the faded tent, finally focusing on Rose’s face, staring her down as if trying to find a lie. 
“I suppose, yes,” he said at last, “after all, you are my favorite customer.”
Nodding her thanks, Rose Gold headed towards the back of the tent, towards a small shelf of books hidden by an inch of thick dust and cobwebs. Rose brushed away the dust, sneezing and coughing as specks of dirt flew into her nose. Beneath the layers of filth, lay a collection of old, decrepit scrolls. Squinting her eyes to read the titles in the dim light, Rose snorted a small flame, which illuminated the darkness for a few short seconds before snuffing out. 
A few of the scrolls Rose deciphered included ‘Blood and Power: A documentary on the deaths of ancient queens’, ‘Prejudice against Royalty’, and ‘Goodbye My Friends’.
Rose snorted in frustration. None of these scrolls were the ones she was looking for. 
A stray scroll fell onto the sand. Rose picked it up curiously. The title read ‘Thorns and Thrones’. Carefully peeling it open, Rose examined the contents. 
A true account of Queen Thorn’s rise to power, written by Coyote.
:
The supposed ‘Queen’ Thorn was nothing but a decision, made by the Dragonet of Destiny as a last attempt to rid the three sisters, Blister, Blaze and Burn. Thorn was originally a leader of an organization known as the Outclaws, who ruled the Scorpion Den, keeping it organized and fair for all dragons. But that was not enough for Thorn. She—
“Atticus!”
Rose’s head jerked upwards at the sudden noise and she stuffed the scroll into the sand.
	
“What is it?” Atticus growled, walking out of the tent.
Digging up the scroll again, Rose walked warily towards the mouth of the tent, scroll in one talon, pulling her scarf over her face again. Outside, she could hear the sound of roaring dragons, not ‘uncommon’ in the Den, but strange to hear so many. 
The dragon who’d shouted Atticus’s name was a grimy little MudWing hybrid, who was panting in exhaustion. 
“Dragons, sir. A lot of them! They’re burning up the Den sir, so Hawk told me to find you,” the dragonet gasped. Atticus’s brow furrowed, his slitted eyes widening.
What’s happening? Rose thought, talons turning instinctively towards the noise. Changing directions, she bounded past the stalls, the things around her turning into streaks of color. Then, she saw it.
The Scorpion Den was on fire. Flames licked the sides of the stalls, sending the rickety old wood crashing to the floor. Smoke rose, swirling into the night.
Rose Gold flinched backwards. She hated fire. Fire burned, it killed, it meant certain death screaming in the flames. She wished for rain, for the cool droplets of water to slide smoothly down her scales. Rose’s eyes widened as she saw a thing in the distance. Shadows. Shadows of dragons, breathing their horrible fire, burning down the home she’d known. She turned back, pulling herself away from the firestorm. 
Wait. What… Sandstone! The though hit her sending Rose Gold staggering out of the flame ridden alley, towards the desert. Her claws dug deep into the sand, and Rose pulled them out, eyes widening. All around her, dragons were yelling, screeching, crying. She had to escape, to leave. The world became a blur, as Rose ran out of the burning Scorpion Den, towards ‘home’. 
Somewhere behind her, two emerald eyes glinted as the small desert city was set aflame.
-·-❖· - ·❖-·-
“Sandstone! Sandstone wake up!” A shriek broke the peaceful silence. Rose lurched off balance and fell down to the bottom of their ‘home’. Sandstone blinked an eye at her, then wrapped his wings around himself, turning away. Rose sighed; brow furrowed. She grabbed her brother’s shoulder, shaking him roughly. 
“Wake up! The Den’s on fire. We need to leave, now,” Rose hissed, dragging her brother’s tail as a last-ditch attempt at getting him out. 
“What?” Sandstone jerked upwards, flailing his claws desperately. Rose gave up and proceeded to pack the few valuables she had in a small pouch, tying it to her neck along with her scarf. Her claws reached instinctively towards her wings, where she’d tucked the scroll on royalty when escaping. But nothing was there. Rose snarled, frustrated with herself. Sandstone, obviously frightened, but still grudgeful, stood and wrapped the camel-skin blankets into rolls.
A roar blasted into their den, making both of them flinch.
“Let’s go,” Rose growled, springing out of the den. Sandstone followed, stumbling a little but to terrified to whine about it. 
They ran, away from the flickers of light, towards the pink tinged horizon. Rose fought back tears, as the night wind howled. The Den was all she knew. Her real home, and where she’d found Sandstone. 
But it’s also the place you were abandoned, Rose reminded herself. She looked back and almost did a double take. Dragons were following them. Dark figures who from afar did not seem to resemble any tribe Rose knew of. But what she did know was that they were gaining on them, shortening the distance between them.
“Sandstone hurry up!” Rose called, watching her brother stumbling to catch up, his wings unfurling. 
Claws hit her back and Rose was thrown onto the sand, her breath knocked temporarily out of her chest. Gasping for air, Rose twisted her head around to see the dragons bearing down on Sandstone. Hissing, Rose Gold whipped her tail around, but a strong hand held it back, while another pair clamped a thick muzzle around her snout. 
Rose thrashed around, claws lashing at her attackers. She couldn’t see Sandstone anywhere, but she could see her attackers. They were all Sandwings, with pieces of armor protecting their shoulders and necks. Snarling, Rose Gold twisted back onto her feet, and saw her brother, flailing as a sleek SandWing with dark patterned scales dragged him by his tail. 
His wings unfurled completely, batting dust into the SandWing's eyes as he rose into the air, terrified eyes scanning the ground, locking with Rose's. 
“SANDSTONE!” Rose screamed desperately through her muzzle, her breath catching in her throat. "WAIT!"
But he was gone, in the wisps of cloud that were slowly covering the moon.
Fury. Pain. Hatred. 
Rose turned back to the SandWings, one who had locked her tail, and the other preparing the chains. She growled, and slashed her claws blindly, not caring if they made contact with her enemies, just wanting to tear them, and herself, to pieces.
A cold needle was jabbed onto Rose's shoulder, and a few seconds later, her eyes were forced shut. In the state between sleeping and waking, Rose curled in, weeping, as she succumbed to the darkness.
-·-❖· - ·❖-·-
She was enclosed in a small, tight space, the darkness pressing in on her. 
Tap. Tap tap.
A noise from outside the space echoed loudly, making her squirm and kick. A crack of light streamed in, and for the first time, the dragonet saw light scattering the familiar shadows. And she wanted it. The light, to be in her small claws, to be around her, to be with her.
The shell cracked open, revealing a small, pink-tinged snout, and deep gold eyes. The dragonet fell out of the remains of shell, and onto the warm, fluffy sand, her claws clawing at the air. Two pairs of obsidian eyes glittered back at her, stunned.
"Where are her wings?" One of the creatures—dragons—whispered, their claws patting up and down the dragonet's shoulder blades.
"How would she survive without them?"
A deeper, gravelly voice growled impatiently, "I don't want a dragonet who can't fend for itself. She's going to be no use out in the desert, she can't fly, which means either we walk with her, or leave her to catch up on her own."
”But… she’s still our dragonet. We can’t abandon her, can we?” The kinder voice objected, worried. 
“I told you, when we’re ’escaping’, she’s just going to slow us down.”
“But…”
”She’s gonna have to survive on her own. Let’s go to the orphanage instead. At least those dragons don’t include freaks.” 
The two dragons vanished in the blink of an eye. The dragonet saw only shadows disappearing through a dark alley, the few words she heard echoing in her ears.''
On her own.
On her own.
On her own.
-·-❖· - ·❖-·-
On my own.
Rose Gold's eyes opened to dim, flickering torchlight. Bars were placed all around her, and a cold stone floor was beneath her. She twisted around and a shock of pain near her shoulder made her twitch violently. The realization slammed into her. She was alone. Again, by herself, in... a cell?
Forcing herself to sit up, Rose saw dozens of cells placed all around her in near, tidy rows, the inhabitants... wait, what?
Rose gasped as she saw strange dragons, cloaked in scales of vibrant colors, with features that... either seemed to be from two tribes, or none of the tribes.
IceWings with SeaWing spines sticking out from their arms, SkyWings, glowing molten gold, as if they were burning themselves. Rose looked at the cell beside her. It was empty, but the interior was so full of claw marks and blood splashes that she couldn't guess if the prisoner had been killed, or taken away.
Distant screams echoed through the large hall, making Rose stumble into a corner. All the dragons here were unnatural. Like her. Rose's wingless shoulder-blades twitched, as if aching to fly away from this nightmare. 
A bang sounded at the end of the hall, and all the inmates seemed to draw back in their cells instinctively. A pearlescent white dragon, scarily thin, was pulled by chains into the room. Iridescent tones of gold and navy streak across her body, while a crown of fins adorned her bloody face.
The dragon stumbled into the cell beside Rose Gold's the dragons hauling her chains snapping the door shut and locking it.
Rose peered through the bars as they left, laughing. The dragons all seemed to be SandWings, with various tatoos all over their scales. 
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Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)