Wings of Fire: Freedom

== Prologue ==
"Come back!" Azure heard her mate, Karma, call to her as she ran through the woods. She had a teal blue egg in her talons, marked with black splashes that looked like someone spilled ink on it.
Karma held her by the elbow, stopping her and hearing her quiet sobs.
"Are you insane?!" he whispered, trying not to wake up anyone. They were at Possibility, the town where they met, fell in love, and had an egg. They'd been living here for almost three years now, Azure with her parents and Karma on his own. They always met up in secret, knowing Azure's father would kill him on sight if he saw them together. "You can't be seriously considering this." 
Azure pulled away from his grasp and turned to face him. "Why have we hidden from my father all these years?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Why didn't we tell anyone about us? About our egg?" Karma opened and closed his mouth. "The same reason why I'm doing this now. You know my father would smash it to pieces the second he learns about it. I can't risk that. I can't risk losing my dragonet..."
"But you'll be losing it anyway if you do this!" Karma encountered.
"It's not the same thing," hissed Azure. "At least it'll live, have a future, have a life. If I leave it here, none of that will be possible!"
"Azure, please, you are not thinking this thoroughly-"
Azure didn't hear the rest as she flew out of the woods and towards Sanctuary. She could hear her mate's wingbeats as he tried to catch up to her. But there was no way he could do that. She was faster and swifter than him in any way. 
After a half an hour's flight, the wingbeats were finally gone and were replaced by the noises of the night; the chirping of crickets, some owls, squeaks of mice that were out to find food... And there it was, Sanctuary, the third biggest town in Pyrrhia where all tribes were welcome. And where she was exactly headed.
She landed gracefully on the grass near a huge stone building. There was a small courtyard in front of it. Small compared to the building though. It was still big, big enough for dragonets to play tag in it. 
There was a gate in front of the courtyard, a metal banner painted blue with "Sunshine Orphanage" written in big, bright letters on it and "An Orphanage for Hybrid Dragonets" written in dark blue under that, barely seeable. 
Azure sighed and pushed the door, which opened with a creak. She wasn't even sure they were open, but there was a light coming through one of the windows. She walked across the courtyard, passed a flower patch with one or two flowers in it, and reached a wooden door. Her talons trembled as she knocked on the door. 
Should I do this? Is this right? she thought worryingly but quickly changed her mind. Yes, she will be happy with dragonets like her, and with nothing to worry about. All I need to do is be brave, leave her there, and fly back to Possibility. A shiver ran down her spine. "Her". She was sure it was a female. 
Just then the door opened and a dark blue RainWing peeked out from the gap. She looked up and saw Azure. 
"Hello, what can I do for you?" the dragon asked as she straightened herself up. 
Azure gulped. "I-I heard you were an orphanage who took in hybrid dragonets?"
The RainWing's face lightened up at her words. "Yes, yes, come in!" She opened the door fully and let Azure in.
Azure couldn't pay attention to her surroundings, she was too lost in thought. The RanWing pulled out some paper and ink from under the small table that was right next to the door.
"Okay, so, I'm going to ask you some questions and I need you to answer them, alright?" Azure nodded in response. 
The questions kept coming and Azure was feeling sicker and sicker as every moment passed. To her relief, after what seemed like an eternity to her, the questions were done.
"I need you to sign this part please," the dark blue RainWing said pointing at the bottom of the scroll. Azure wasn't sure she could. She dipped her claw inside the ink and hovered it over the paper. She stopped one millimeter away from it, her talon shaking. 
"Is something wrong?" the dragon asked, lifting her head from the scrolls.
"N-no, nothing is wrong," Azure said hurriedly. She signed the scroll, which took all her will to overpower her maternal instincts. She felt like crying. But if she did that, they would get suspicious and wouldn't take her dragonet in. So she held it in, all of it. 
"Thank you very much, you can leave the egg right over there," the RainWing said tilting her head towards a cart with straws in it. 
Azure slowly walked over to the cart, her tail slithering behind her back. She carefully placed the teal blue egg in her talons in it and ran her claws across its smooth shell for the last time. 
Oh, my little angel, she thought, feeling her eyes water. Why did it have to be like this? She stood there for a moment and finally managed to force herself to turn around. 
She passed the small table, not returning the RainWing's "goodnight". She opened the door deliberately, as if time would move slower if she did too. She took one last glance at her beautiful egg, the shell shimmering in the bright torchlight. And she couldn't stop the words flowing out of her mouth.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She turned to leave as tears started sliding down her smooth SeaWing scales. "I'm so sorry..." 
Then the SeaWing-NightWing egg was left there, all alone, with only the RainWing there to keep her company for that night.
But the dragonet inside that egg knew nothing about the outside world, about the other hybrids here with her, and that they would have to fight, for their freedom.
== Chapter One ==
Tealsong sighed as her friend Koi poked her wing. The sun had only risen an hour ago, and there were at least two hours until breakfast. They had no reason to be up this early.
"What is it?" she groaned.
"I'm bored," Koi said. His moss-green wings reflected the morning sun beautifully, making his scales look not so dull like it usually was. He had a weird brown all over his body with bioluminescent scales that were a disgusting shade of green. He looked like one of the swamp trees with dead leaves. But he was a good friend. He didn't care about how he looked, he didn't care about anything really. Only food. And maybe Tealsong. 
"Go back to sleep..." Tealsong replied yawning. "Too early to play..."
"It's never too early to play!" he cried, quietly. There were almost 20 bunkers in the room. And all of them had sleeping dragonets in them. 
"Koi, please, you know I've been up all night trying to get everyone to sleep." 
"Yes, but it's not fair! The custodians are supposed to look after them, not you!"
Tealsong sighed. She felt like she was responsible for every dragonet in this room, even though she wasn't. They were all orphans, dragonets who needed love. She would give her life protecting even the smallest one of them. 
She would lend a talon with everything, like helping the small dragonets ready their bed, sort out fights, comfort dragonets who she saw were crying in a quiet corner, get everyone in bed until curfew so the custodians didn't get mad... Everyone would come to her at the slightest problem.
"Look, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but you're trying too hard. You need some time for yourself too." And without a warning, he just scooped her up, placed her on his back, and started running towards the exit. Tealsong didn't have time to react as they reached the courtyard. 
"What do you think you're doing?!" she hissed.
"Hang on tight!" And with that they were afloat, flying up to the roof. Tealsong let out a yelp as Koi started flapping his wings. She'd never flown before. She was always too caught up with helping the dragonets, she'd never bothered to learn how. 
"I know I said 'hang on tight' but I didn't mean that tight," Koi said. Tealsong hadn't realized how hard she was holding on to Koi, she had almost left claw marks on his neck. She quickly loosened up her grasp.
"Sorry..."
"Nah, It's okay. I would've only choked and died and then plummet to the ground and you would've died with me."
 "Shut up," she said, smacking him with her tail. 
They landed on the roof, which was flat. Tealsong got off of Koi's back and stared at a corner of the roof. There was a rug on the ground with a few small cushions on it and it had a great view of both the forest and the village, which wasn't all that far from the orphanage. 
"Woah, did you make this?" she asked, impressed. 
"It's actually my secret place, I come here all the time to relax, rest, that kind of thing," Koi explained as they walked on over to the corner. 
"Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Well, I didn't think you'd want to come here since you're way too busy..." Koi sighed and plopped down onto the cushions.
"I love it," Tealsong said smiling. "It's so peaceful and quiet up here."
"Really?" Koi said lifting his head. Luckily, Tealsong was watching the view, so she didn't the slight blush on his face. "I'm glad you're happy."
It was almost time for breakfast when Tealsong and Koi flew down and sneaked back to their room, careful not to wake anyone. And they were just in time, they'd gotten into their beds a heartbeat before the door opened and a RainWing walked in. She rang the bell in her talons.
"Time for breakfast, chop-chop!" she shouted. The dragonets began stirring, some yawning and some lifting the blanket up to their heads. "ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EAT, BE AT THE CAFETERIA IN FIVE MINUTES!"
Tealsong waited until the custodian left to get up and check on everyone. Koi helped her wake everybody up and they all went down to the cafeteria to eat. 
"Wonder what's on the menu today," a dragonet with a tail barb and gills thought aloud. 
"Same as every day stupid. Chickens for everyone," replied the dragonet next to him. 
"I just wish they would let us eat different things once in a while..." His friend nodded and Tealsong didn't hear the rest of their conversation as they entered the cafeteria. 
The tables were full already with hungry dragonets and there were still some dragonets without seats. Tealsong had found a place to sit next to Koi, but she got up and let a 3-year old dragonet take her place. Koi did the same. Seeing there were still dragonets up on their feet, Tealsong gathered them and they found a place to sit together in a circle.
Tealsong offered to get the chickens for everyone and nobody objected. She returned with 10 chickens, giving one to each dragonet. They ate and eventually, it was play time.
The most chaotic time in the whole day.
Tealsong went out to the courtyard to watch the dragonets so she could help if someone fell or if there was a fight or something. 
She sat down next to the flower patch. Her eyes darted from dragonet to dragonet. She kept checking the small ones, ready to run across the mess of dragonets to help them.
"Hello? Tealsong?" Koi said waving his talons in front of her face. Tealsong blinked several times. He looked worried.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Um... That?" He pointed at the two dragonets who were walking up to a small 2-year-old dragonet playing tag with her friends. 
They weren't hybrids. They were both full SandWing. 
Oh no, Tealsong thought as she ran across the courtyard. One of them tripped the dragonet with his tail, laughing as she fell down on her chin.
"Oooh, look Osiris, another weirdling," the dragonet who tripped her said to his brother grinning.
"All these weirdlings are the same Horus, stop messing with these useless dragonets," the second dragonet replied. They were almost the same, the only difference was the patterns on their wings and Horus' scar on his shoulder. He had specks of brown on his wings and Osiris had wave-like patterns. Other than that, all their colors and physic matched. 
"Stop calling me that!" the dragonet on the ground squeaked between her tears.
"Oh yeah? And what's gonna happen if we don't?" Horus teased. At that moment, Tealsong was there, stepping in front of the small dragonet.
"Or you'll have a matching scar on your other shoulder," she hissed in his face. He jumped back and let out a yelp. A moment later he hissed back at her.
"Do you know how long that wound took to heal?! I could've died!"
"It was you that attacked a harmless dragonet," she growled. "And I would gladly do it again."
"I dare you to tr-" Horus was cut off short by his twin shutting his snout.
"You know you can't beat her you stupid lizard! Are you trying to die?!" Horus pushed his brother away.
"I will not let dragons know that I was beaten by a girl, let alone a hybrid." He spat that last word like it was venom. He lept at Tealsong.
Tealsong dogged him easily and got behind him. She held his tail and flung him around, grinning as she heard him yell in pain as he hit the stone wall next to them. Osiris sighed and walked over to him, helping him get up. 
"Is that all you've got?" Tealsong said, still grinning. She didn't notice the huge shadow that was approaching her until the shadow was blocking the sun. She turned around to see Atacama, Horus, and Osiris' father. 
"Father! This hybrid attacked me!" Horus cried. 
"What?! I did no such thing! It was you who attacked me!" Tealsong hissed at him.
"Enough!" Atacama bellowed. "You," he hissed pointing at Tealsong, "stay away from my sons. And you." He glared at Horus and Osiris. "Come with me." The twins followed their father, Horus shot a glance at Tealsong that clearly said: "This isn't over." And Tealsong stuck her tongue out to him.
She was satisfied with how Horus tried with all his might to stop himself from leaping at her again. 
Tealsong looked down as someone tugged on her wing. It was the dragonet who tripped. "Th-thank you..." she said shyly. 
Tealsong smiled warmly. "Anytime." Then the dragonet went off to continue playing with her friends.
Her smile faded as she went back inside the building with Koi behind her. She growled to herself.
"How could I forget it was today?!" she cried. "How could I forget?!" She started pacing around the room. "I went to bed yesterday thinking it was today, ARGH."
"I wonder who he'll take this time..." Koi said. 
"Oh, I don't know! But it'll probably be one of the 6-year-olds... It always is." 
Atacama would come every month and take a dragonet or two from the orphanage. No one knew where they went or why, but they just did. And it would always be one of the bigger dragonets. There weren't any dragonets in he orphanage that were bigger than 6, they never stayed until their 7th hatch day. Atacama would always take them away.
And now Tealsong was 5, her hatch day was in a week. A normal dragonet would be excited about it but it was the opposite for Tealsong. She was absolutely terrified. 
What if Atacama picked her on his next visit? Who would help these poor dragonets then? The custodians clearly didn't care what happened to them, seeing they never even tried to sort out a fight.
Once there was this huge food fight in the cafeteria and Tealsong had just sat there, waiting to see what the custodians were going to do. But they had done nothing. They'd just watched the fight, minding their other businesses. So Tealsong had to take action and stop it, like any other time. 
No one was willing to help these hybrids; most of the continent hated them, thought they were a disgrace to the tribes. 
So they would be defenseless if Tealsong left. Nobody else was willing to look after them. 
Also, she didn't want to leave. She had friends here.
Wait. Correction: a friend. Koi. The MudWing SeaWing hybrid had been kind to her ever since he came to the orphanage. A SeaWing guard had brought him in, saying it was a direct order from Queen Coral. 
"What's the matter?" Koi asked suddenly making her jump. "You've been staring at that wall for 2 minutes straight."
"I was just... thinking," she said. She was about to say something else when she heard a noise.
Atacama and Blueberry, the RainWing custodian, were walking down the stairs talking to each other. Tealsong instinctively hid. She didn't know why, but she just felt like something bad would happen if Atacama saw her. Koi was awkwardly standing there, he hadn't hidden like Tealsong.
Atacama frowned and stopped talking as he saw Koi. He glared at him, Koi flinched and left, shooting a glance in Tealsong's direction. After Koi left, they continued talking.
"I am not giving 500 golds for a hybrid, Blueberry," Atacama hissed.
"She's the best we have, what can I say?"
"400."
"450 and we have a deal," Blueberry said, holding a talon out. Atacama grumbled but shook her hand anyway. Blueberry smiled.
"What about the other one, the Mud-SeaWing?" 
"He won't do you any good, he's useless. Take him if you want, no charge."
"No thank you, I don't want any more hybrids than I need in my mine."
Tealsong didn't hear the rest of the discussion as they walked out of earshot. 
But she was too traumatized by what she heard, she couldn't pay attention to the rest anyway.
The orphanage was selling hybrid dragonets to Atacama, like they were a piece of jewelry. They'd never cared about them, they had only cared about making money. The dragonets were nothing but an item on a shelf, waiting to be sold for them. 
And Tealsong was next on that shelf.
Category:Literature
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Unfinished)
Category:Wings of Fire