Need Your Wings

Need Your Wings is a fan fic by Wisps. Please do not use it without permission.
This may get a bit gruesome...
The air in the night was sharp and crisp; it howled and writhed and tore at all things on the barren tundra. On its icy gusts that were so cold it burned, shards of hail rained down, whipped in all directions by the fury of the oncoming blizzard. The tundra shrubs were plastered flat as the storm blew across the permafrost. The Kingdom of Ice was warned of this deadly storm, whose rampant winds could surely tear a dragon's wings off the instant he took flight, and were told to remain in their dwellings and lock up tight. Queen Glacier was to announce to the tribe when it was safe to exit.
However, in the dead of night in the raging blizzard, across the swirling blackness of the endless plain, if one squinted hard enough, a faint twinkle of golden light glimmering on the horizon.
"My Queen," Lemming gasped, his frozen teeth clenched in effort and pain and his silvery blue scales shone in the lantern's golden light. "Are you sure this is the right way?"
A small pack of three IceWings were alone on the tundra, the storm driving them still. Their white heads were bowed, foreheads facing the oncoming hail wind. Black eyes clenched shut, they advanced into the blizzard painstakingly slowly, barely able to walk against the deadly wind.
Glacier hissed, but the sound was lost in the howling wind. "Yes, I am sure." She shouted at the top of her lungs, barely audible. She led the group of three into the storm, with her wings tucked tightly against her spine. Her muscles ached from doing so for hours on end, but she knew if she, and especially she, were to relent and let them open, she would kill them all. This blizzard was one of great danger, and she knew this when setting out into its heart.
"Glacier," Cisco shouted, his stark white scales shining yellow in the lantern's light in his talon. Cisco was Glacier's eldest and most trusted brother. "How will we know when we find them? This lantern can only shine so bright, and it's nearly dead." He cracked open a royal blue eye to peer at the dying flame, dancing merrily in its protective glass orb. Icicles had formed on the wrought iron metal, and the dragons' scales were beginning to crystallize. His breath was shortening as he felt his lungs freezing. Even an IceWing had its limits.
Glacier turned her head as a particularly hulking mass of ice flew in her direction, chipping a few scales off the left half of her face. She was paralyzed momentarily, white hot pain exploding just under her eye, nearly denting her sharp cheekbone. She felt her metallic red blood being blown out of the wound by the wind, staining snow her rusty crimson. She knew it would heal, but couldn't shake the fear that it wouldn't. The doubt of the night was starting to get to her. "We will know," she cried through clenched teeth to the other IceWings, "when we can hear them and smell them." She stated it as if that would be an easy task; the blizzard was deafening and the wind carried no scent that could be registered on its icy wisps.
The trio trudged through the thigh-deep snow, Cisco's withered lantern lighting a glorious path to heroism. And they trekked for hours until Glacier stopped the voyage.
She froze in her tracks, her eyes partly opened, plastered shut by icy dried tears that were torn from her eyes by the wind. The snow before her was marked; previously, the snow they had been marching through was pure and clean. No, there was what looked like a mark from something large and fast moving that had plowed through the snow, but the indent ended indefinitely. The IceWing Queen gulped and swallowed down a morbid thought. She cast one last forlorn glance at the scuff in the snow before carrying on.
And about an hour later, her morbid fears were set to stone.
The snow was gouged deeply, almost to the soil beneath. The edges were rough and relatively recently scraped out. It looked similar to the previous mark, only this one was much deeper and larger. And soaked with coppery blood. The air wreaked of its metallic stench, and the bloody splatters on the edges of the snow's wound had begun to crystallize.
Glacier made sure she tucked her wings against her tighter and gestured for Cisco's lantern. Once its cold metal handle was in-talon, she swung it over the dark indentation, seeing the blood shine sickly fresh in the waning light. A shimmer of silver in the gory mess made the Queen curious, and she squinted, trying to make out what it was: a scale.
The other two dragons must've seen it too, because they gasped and bowed their heads. Then Lemming piped up, catching the Queen's attention. "Your Majesty, my queen, what's that, directly ahead?" And he pointed forwards to a dark heap that seemed alien to the barren plain. The wind howled in response, snow and hail raining down upon the grieving trio.
A spark of hope glimmered in Glacier's cynical, icy mind. Maybe it's a survivor... And she quickly set out to investigate.
The image borne in the warm glow of the lantern was branded on her mind forever: a dragon once known as Eilíft. But now, he was barely recognizable as draconic; once a handsome young warrior, valiant and loyal, was now a heap of gory matter. A talon was outstretched, rigid claws dug deep into the snow-packed permafrost. His arm was limp, and the scales were wind blown and crystallized, with hoarfrost piling on his knuckles. One half of his body, the left, looked relatively unharmed: his left wing was broken and bent backwards, and his horns were slightly cracked. However, it was when the dim light of the lantern's gaze fell over the other side of his spine that Glacier felt her breath catch in her throat, and felt bile and sorrow rising from her belly. On this side, half of his neck was skinned, with glimmering wet crimson muscles glowing in the candlelight, frost clinging to the now-cold muscle tissue. His right wing was completely torn off, the only trace of it ever being there in the first place was a gaping hole above his shoulder where the wing would've connected at the joint. It was a bloody pit, with shards of bone and crude ice stabbing out of the soft inner flesh like the teeth of a bloodthirsty parasite. His entire flank was sparsely speckled with scales, most of them having been torn off by something. From his opened neck to his thigh was completely blood smeared, threads of gory flesh billowing in the wind, anchored to his scales. Scarlet viscera dripped and spilled onto the crystal white snow, staining the pure surface with the rotten metallic stench of rusty death. His tail was bent out of shape, and what looked like deep claw marks, clearly IceWing by the jagged edges of the wounds, raked down the top side of his tail, exposing clean vertebrae and torn muscle split and flopped open in the ice storm, splattering a bout of fresh blood when his carcass was pelted with talon-sized hail.
However, while the queen of ice had kept her composure steady while examining the rest of his body, it was when she waved her lantern over his head that she finally lost it. Never would she show it to her most high-ranked soldiers, but internally she had broken to pieces smaller than a single prong of a tiny snowflake. For his face was one of a sad, agonizing death. His jaws were agape, teeth bared and tongue drooped on the ice limply. He was missing a few teeth on the right side of his upper jaw, and his skull was crushed and broken open above his right eye; with bloody shards of skull and bone jagged and sharp, they jutted from his silver scales like a gory crown. His horns were fractured on his right side again, and he had clear marks on the same side of his face that seemed to be caused from something sharp and rough and big brushing by his face. His snout was crooked and bent, broken and lifeless, his nose trickling a frozen stream of blood. His throat was expanded, as if he were howling in agony before the icy wind forced itself into his lungs and froze him into a soft sleep. But his eyes were what truly ruined the great queen Glacier. It was his eyes; his dark eyes, just that morning were warm and smiling at his daughter's smiling silvery snout. His eyes, which once watched the world with a silent grace and accepted everything, and was content with what life had given him. His eyes, which once were alive and functioning. His eyes, now dead and lifeless, eyelids torn back, dried stolen tears streaking his head, pupils contracted out of fear and pain, wide open and non-seeing. It was his eyes that truly ruined the great queen Glacier. For she knew he shouldn'tve died; it wasn't his fault that he died. It wasn't his fault his life was ended alone and in pain. It wasn't his fault that his wife and daughter would be without him.
That's why you don't open your wings in a blizzard.
Glacier blinked back the tears in her eyes and glanced back at her living company. She shone the lantern at them, so they could both see her face lit eerily in the dark sky. Hail whistled by their ears and snow collected on their snouts in seconds. Glacier sent a look to Cisco, one that clearly said what needed to be said, and the three continued forward, passing Eilíft's frozen corpse, and heading to a final destination to wait out the storm: a small golden light on the horizon, where Glacier knew she would be safe. Somewhere she could be alone with someone who would listen.
She just had to get there alive.
And that she did.
She stood, shivering outside of the thick wooden door that was locked too tight, flanked by her two trusted survivors. Of the horrors I've seen today, dear Moons please allow me to forget the death I've seen. Her scales were chipped and bruised from the barrage of hail. Frost crystals had formed jagged spires on her cheeks, nose, and wings. She made sure hers were pressed so tightly against her back, fearing the same fate as the lost soul who hadn't even opened his and died. Her eyes clamped shut and her heart jumped to her throat as she felt the burning image of the glossy scarlet blood shimmering on the soft exposed tissue of his sinewy neck. Hot blood thrummed in her ears as her heart raced, trying to swallow the image back down. Dear Moons I beg of you.
Finally, her knocking had been answered, and the cheerful merriments from behind the door were muffled as a body stood between the hard wood and the joyous chanting and drunken singing. A small brass slider at snout-height unlocked and was pushed open. A pair of obsidian black eyes squinted as a gust of harsh icy wind impaled them. A his came from the dragon that owned them. The eyes opened barely, recognizing the snout of the frozen queen of the starlit plains. The eyes shone a flash of worry, and then the slider slammed shut, followed by an onslaught of unlocking clicks. After many seconds in the howling storm, the door swung open, a large SandWing soldier holding the door open for the IceWing patrol. The golden light from inside the small fortress spilled into the icy night, and the darkness growled in pain, whipping more hail into the sides of the building.
The door shut behind the three alien ice dragons, and the SandWings' drunken joy ceased for a second to stare at the new company. Cisco shifted uncomfortably, his jaws clenched shut tightly and his knees shivering. He placed his rusty lantern, which had long since fizzled out, on the floor, and was taken aback as a young male SandWing swooned and all but fell onto his shoulder, his pale gold snout shoved uncomfortably close to Cisco's. "Hey handsome," the SandWing breathed, alcohol heavy on his breath and an empty shot glass in one talon.
Cisco glared down at him with a cold icy glare, "Please leave me alone," he said sternly, gently removing the strange dragon from his arm.
The SandWing sighed slightly, but grinned and winked at him, "Aw, okay, hottie. But if you're ever lonely, my name's Sonoran." He added flirtatiously, sweeping away, but surely not forgetting to brush his wings against the icy royal. Cisco grunted in approval at his departure, and glanced up to look for his queen in the chaotic glee of the drunk SandWings. He saw Lemming dutifully denying a drink from some tipsy dragoness, the liquid in the shot glass was a thick viscous amber-white color, and looked milky and highly alcoholic. But still, the prince couldn't find his sister. He was about to go look for her, but was dragged over to a crowded bar by none other than Sonoran.
Glacier knocked on the wooden door. This time, she wasn't outside, she was warm now. The SandWings had a roaring fire in the heart of the small fort, and the heat was getting to her now. The smoky air had thawed the frost on her scales, and now she waited in the gold warmth, hoping to the Moons that the door would open soon. She needed someone she could talk to. Someone she could cry to. Someone that wouldn't understand. Someone that would care and try to help anyways.
The door opened with a whoosh, and Blaze's sandy snout appeared in the doorway. Her face was thoughtful, dressed with jewelry and cheer. She wore a plush red cape with some kind of spotted animal fur around the collar, and a golden clasp holding it together. The bright torchlight in the fortress shone on her glossy sand scales. Her eyes landed on the IceWing and her face lit up into a glowing smile. "Oh, Glacier! It's such a surprise! What are you...?" She asked, a look of concern flashing across her face.
Glacier was on the verge of tears, but she bit back her emotion. "May I come in..?" She asked, gesturing vaguely with a slight tip of the snout into the room Blaze was in. The princess agreed, of course, and the regal silver dragon slithered in, and Blaze shut the door behind them. The SandWing hurried to the huge bed against the back wall, a giant tapestry of the sand kingdom draped above it. The princess curled up on the bed, tucking her limbs under her soft crimson cape and shivered, pulling the furred collar higher up on her neck.
"Brrr, it's so cold here. I don't know how you IceWings can even function." She whined pitifully, making an infantile pouty face. Then she smiled lightheartedly, "Oh come sit down," she patted the bed beside her, "So what are you doing here? It's, like, super windy and cold and gross out! Oh you poor thing, coming all this way in this weather! Do you want a nice blanket or something?" She grabbed a fistful of heavy down blankets and fur throws from the bed, offering them to the icy queen who had taken a seat beside her.
She shook her head deftly. "No, no I'm fine," she said, feeling the intense heat radiating from the other dragoness's scales. I'm just as confused as to how you SandWings can function in such heat. "We're here, my brother Cisco and another soldier. We went out to look for a patrol pair that had left earlier today before the storm, and they got caught in it on the way back." Glacier explained numbly, internally already broken down thrice, and trying to piece herself back together one last time.
Blaze frowned sadly, "Aw, that's awful! So did you find the dragons you were looking for?" She asked expectantly, oblivious to the fact that only three IceWings entered the fort. Not the five as planned.
Glacier inhaled sharply, a sob catching on her throat. No. Stay strong Glacier. Show no weakness. Show no attraction. Be normal and queenly. Be normal and queenly. Be normal and queenly... "Uh, yes, we found....most of one of them." She hid her crying well. The tear on her cheek shone no brighter than her already glassy scales.
Blaze looked as if you had told her that her favorite fabric just tripled in price. And then said it was because of economic inflation. "So...most of him? What happened?" She asked, seemingly afraid of the answer. She shrunk her head down into her furry collar, the soft hairs swaying with each breath.
Glacier remained stony. "His partner must've had his wings forced open. And the wind must've knocked the two together." She explained, keeping it PG and simple for the princess's sake. Even with the 'dumbed down' explanation, Blaze gasped and held a talon over her agape mouth.
"Oh my...I'm...I'm sorry." She extended her arms for a hug, a sad smile on her snout, a welcoming face. It's been so long since Glacier had felt warmly welcomed. It's been so long.
Glacier normally wasn't one to hug. On any occasion. Talon-shakes at best were the most contact you'd make with her. But she had broken too many times, and she felt like she wouldn't be able to tape herself back up one more time. So, she accepted Blaze's hug, intense heat scorching her scales, and the furred collar forcing its way up her nostrils. She held back the urge to sneeze, and just hugged the SandWing harder. And she started crying. The stony glacier had cracked, and the avalanche began tumbling.
Blaze panicked internally, not knowing what to do. Glacier never showed any emotion. Like, ever. She didn't even smile. The SandWing worriedly squeezed her tighter in a reassuring embrace, not knowing what to do. She decided she had to speak. "Um...Glacier....? You okay?" She asked idiotically.
That oblivious question made the queen cough a sad chuckle between silent sobs, her whole body shaking with the ferocity of her sorrow. She wiped her eyes blindly, the tears only to be replaced by endless more. "Yeah...yeah Blaze. I'm okay." She tried to put herself back together, reassume her usual icy composure. She leaned back from the hug, staring at Blaze with a sad, soft gaze. The princess smiled a crooked, helpful grin, and grabbed the IceWing's cold claws in her warm ones. She squeezed them tightly.
"I'm always here for you Glacier. If you ever need my wings, in always here to hug and cry to. You don't have to be all cold and serious forever. I'm here." She smiled, wrapping one incubating pale golden wing around the silver queen. She squeezed her claws again, and shivered at the cold radiating from the icy white dragon.
Glacier beamed slightly, and squeezed the SandWing's claws back. And then she hugged her again. "I really like you Blaze. You're a great queen." She said, muffled by the red cape.
Blaze hugged her back, "I like you too, Glacier."
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Genre (Romance)