Shattered Midnight

This page is for the Flash Fiction contest, and belongs to Rain. (The protagonist is Moonflower.)
Thank you Comet for the fabulous coding!
== Shattered Midnight ==
She watched through the lush green canopy of leaves as the
dragons shot through the rainforest.
It was a warm midsummer night, and white-gold stars speckled
the indigo sky. She folded her rippling black wings, tilting her perfect snout
up at the sky. Curled in her talons was a glorious white moonflower.
Her namesake. She let the flower fall from her talons. It
landed on the earthy rainforest floor.
The heat was sticky and heavy and it clung to her scales.
Discomfort overtook her, and the laughing dragons below her added to the battle
raging in her mind. Her family had been like this, once. She had been happy
before the attack. Before everything had been taken from her.
She remembered the screams of her brother, the agonized
shrieks of her mother. Her father had been strong; she knew because she had
watched him from outside. When the bad dragons came at him with metal spears
and battle cries, he had said nothing. He had accepted his fate.
Moonflower killed to ease the pain. That was always how she
had lived with herself. The stars winked down at her; mocking her. The three moons,
sparkling in full glory, beamed brighter than ever, as if nothing was wrong. As
if the world wasn’t horrible and cruel.
She eyed the dragons below once again. They each looked
ecstatic in their own unique way, as if their whole lives were exhilarating at
every moment. She hated them for it.
Moonflower extended her wings slightly in one, graceful
movement. The sudden motion made the family of RainWings look up. The smallest
one was a soon-to-be-beauty, with scales shifting in radiant yellows and pale
pinks. She squealed as she spotted a blue butterfly, and she clumsily stumbled
after it. The butterfly almost glowed in the pitch-darkness.
The parents and the male dragonet were more subdued, but
helped the little dragonet up when she fell. They all laughed together and
headed back in the direction of the village.
Moonflower blinked back warm, salty tears. She tried to wipe them away, but they had not yet fallen.
Love is weakness, she
told herself. Crying for someone is a sign of love.
This was one of the nights when she wished she had never
decided to stay alone. Even though she was lonely, she had seen the dragons in
the village. Always trying to impress the others, and fit in. Pathetic.
She caught another dragon laugh, and decided she wasn’t
going to torture herself any longer.
She glided from tree to tree, farther from the RainWing
village. She paused when she heard the faint whisper of a voice. Leaning over a
clump of leaves, she spotted a shape moving in the darkness.
When she squinted, she realized with shock that there was
another small shape stirring next to the large one. Moonflower caught a glimpse
of glittering silver scales. A NightWing and her dragonet.
The NightWing said something. She made a pitiful sniffing
noise and then flew away. Moonflower pulled herself back into the tree,
pressing her wings against the rough trunk.
Once all was quiet again, she swooped down to land in front
of the dragonet. It (she?) was a tiny little thing, which made her wonder if it
was newly hatched. She had little claws shaped like crescent moons, and triangular
wings too large for her body.
“Hello, little one,” Moonflower said.
The dragonet cocked its head to one side. “Mommy?”
Moonflower glanced down at her black scales. “No. My name is
Moonflower. I don’t usually like dragonets.” The dragonet made a huffing sort
of noise. “But I’m going to help you.”
Category:Content (Rainstorm239)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Genre (Short Story)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)