Death Lessons, A Fanfiction

== Beware! ==
This fanfiction involves mentions of starvation and death. This isn't the brightest, most cheerful fanfiction. If you get triggered or scared easily by any bloody topics, you should probably not read this. If you can read this sorta stuff, go on, read!
== 20 Years into the Pyhrrian Future.. ==
She ran through the marketplace streets, desperate of food. She hadn't eaten in days. Famine was spreading through the kingdoms. She was sure she was as thin as a twig.
Whenever she glimpsed a store with food, she would approach and be shooed away like a pesky fly. She had lost her father a week ago, who barely would acknowledge her existence but kept her fed enough. Then she looked away from him for a moment, and he disappeared.
And she was left begging for food, and even what she was given was usually moldy, stale, or disgusting. Again, she found a store with roasted birds on sticks and when she ran to steal one someone hit her head hard.
"Get away from here, ya gnat!" The dragon yelled, smoke rising from his nostrils. "Please let me have at least one! I haven't eaten in days, and I don't have anyone to help feed me." She begged, stumbling and catching herself. The employee of the shop snorted, and bared his teeth at her.
"Everyone is starving, thanks to this moons-forbidden famine. You hunt and buy your own food, ya hear me? Now shoo, you'll pass your ugly disease onto this food." With a final smack to her head, she ran off. And then she remembered the next part- that dragon. He'd been wearing a deep gray cloak and his face was concealed. She'd guessed he was a HiveWing by his red-and-black claws and tail. He had looked at her coldly, and then his tail rose up and
Sand cat woke up with a jolt. She'd remembered the next part of that horrible reacurring nightmare, that awful HiveWing lifted his tail and tried to stab her chest. She managed to flee, but with a terrible cost. That mystery dragon managed to get her wing, which now had a small hole in it that could heal in a matter of weeks. But she didn't have weeks to heal. So she now had to travel on talon, instead of gliding.
She then was plunked into those darker thoughts of hers. Sand cat, ever since her wing got a hole in it, had been thinking that she'd starve or never fly again. A part of her was always shaking, and she once thought that maybe that was a sign of death.
She had ran from that market to the middle of nowhere. All she heard was the occasional rustling of leaves and sometimes a chirp of a bird. But she also heard some random bushes shaking as something whisked past them.
Wait, what? Sand cat immediately stopped in her tracks and looked around. It seemed like the world had gone quiet, which reminded her of horror stories where everything goes silent and then some dead body appears. Which gave Sand cat the sense that something bad or creepy will appear.
Sand cat bolted into the nearest tree, and climbed it until the branches were too thin to hold her weight. And watched her surroundings. For a moment, she thought she saw a flash of pale, sandy-colored scales, similar to hers. Something knocked her to the ground, and before she could even take another breath a SandWing had her pinned to the ground.
== The SandWing pinned her down.. ==
She tried to recapture her breath, and she felt tears starting to gather in her eyes. The SandWing pinning her down was muttering under his breath, and took out a dagger. She tried to shove at least one arm off her chest, but he didn't even react.
"Ah, there we go. A nice, pitiful, alone dragonet. Just what I need today." The SandWing had pale scales, a lot like her, and he looked about forty. He had almost white wings and eyes as dark as the market alleyways.
He pressed a dagger to her neck, and then finally examined her. She had almost the same color scales as him, but dark wings and a light underbelly. Plus, her holed wing and her undeveloped tail barb.
"You're quite scrawny. Perhaps death will set you free of your imperfect self, eh?" Sand cat braced herself for the pained impact of the dagger, tears streaming down her face.
Suddenly, from the forest around, someone was yelling someone's name at the top of her lungs. "FEEEENNNNNEEEEEEEEEECCC!" A HiveWing trampled into sight, and burst into the small clearing. "What are you doing?! Can't you see she's starving? You have NO DECENCY in ANY VICTIM." The she-dragon shoved Fennec off and grabbed Sand cat instead. The SandWing grumbled something and glared at her. "Maybe she'd be HAPPIER if I KILLED HER, is my thought process. And yes, my eyes work fine, I see she's starving just fine." The HiveWing wrapped her wings and tail around Sand cat, like how she'd seen some mothers do to their dragonets.
"At least can't we give her a proper meal before death? How long has it been since you've eaten, little one?" The older dragon's voice was unexpectedly gentle for yelling at a SandWing at proper murder etiquette, and Sand cat just shook her head. "See? She hasn't eaten in days upon! We can give her a meal, we have enough to spare. Plus, Carcha and Pyrr love dragonets."
Fennec grumbled some more but didn't refuse to let her come.
Before Sand cat knew it, she was being carried off with two mystery dragons.
== When she arrived.. ==
The HiveWing carried her into what was the thickest of trees. But to her surprise, she spotted what looked like a tent. A moment later, she realized she was right. In fact, there was about seven of them, all camouflaged green and grey and brown.
Immediately, a SkyWing and another HiveWing came crashing out of a tent. Both with expressions of shock, confusion, and for the SkyWing, joy. "Red. What, is THAT." The HiveWing pointed a red talon to Sand cat, and she immediately recognized them. That HiveWing had identical claws, and now that she looked, the same tail too, as the HiveWing in the market. The one that tried to kill her. And she recalled Fennec saying, "maybe she'd be happier if I killed her".
"WHO is that, is what he means. She's so cute! Omigosh, what's your name, sweetie?" The SkyWing lowered her head to she could look into Sand cat's eyes. "Sa.. Sand cat." She replied, her voice faltering. She assumed this was Pyrr. "Pretty name! Cats are so cute, have you ever seen one?" Sand cat shook her head, drawing her wings and tail in. "Er, Pyrrhuloxia, can you get her something to eat? She's practically starving." Red smiled weakly. Pyrr gasped and, like Red, wrapped her wings around Sand cat. "Oh, I'm so sorry, little one! Here, we have plenty of food to spare. I can tell you everybody around Camp too!" Before Sand cat could say anything, Pyrr had her dragged to a tent, distinguished by what looked like a carcass, so bloody she couldn't even tell what animal is was.
Pyrr led her inside, where the smell of sea gull, and wolf meat filled the air. "We only have a few fruits, bird and wolf meat. I'm sorry. Red and Assassin Bug are the pickiest eaters here, so they take the bird meat." She piled a few fruits and a small slab of wolf meat onto a carved wooden bowl, and gave it to Sand cat. "Eat up. The Group moves tomorrow."
== Sand Cat ate warily.. ==
Perhaps this food is poisoned, so she'd die easier. She thought, by the looks of it, this group was a bunch of crazy serial killers, and she was starting to think she was right. Except for the fact two of them were huge fans of dragonets.
Pyrr told her about the whole group, which contained about six dragons.
There was Red-knee, or Red as everybody called her, or known as Sand Cat's Great Savior. Sand cat made a mental note that she could be possibly the nicest dragon here, one that if she clung to her enough maybe they'd let her go.
There was Pyrr, the dragonet-loving crazy, who might be a close second. Pyrr definitely loved dragonets, enough to feed her a huge meal. According to Sand cat's mind, they actually didn't have much food. That explains why they're all so comfortably gaunt.
Assassin Bug, or A.B. as everybody called him. He looked about 100 years old, though he definitely wasn't. He had that same black cloak on, but the hood wasn't on him. He didn't seem mad at her appearance, so Sand cat was happy about that.
Fennec, her Forest Assassin. He tried to kill her, out of fun, she theorized, and Red stopped him. He actually didn't seem particularly mad at Red or her or anybody, he just seemed like a bored, grumpy dragon.
Pyrr said that Fennec had gone out with someone named Caribbean, who she described as "boring, talks like a scroll, but you get a good history lesson from them". Pyrr added that she got most of her training from Caribbean.
Finally, Pyrr said there was a sixth dragon in their small group, named Skullcap. She never mentioned their gender, but she said they were "the closest thing to family she had". Sand cat felt a stab of guilt from this.
"Uh-uhm." Sand cat stammered. Pyrr, who was half-way done with a stab of wolf meat, looked are her. "Pyrr.. Loxia.. What are.. What are you going to do with me? Your whole.. Group?" Pyrr's expressions fell through many levels, one being fear. "I don't know. I was given orders, so I just.. Fed you. I'm severely hoping that we can at least let you go with something to warn you of what happens if you tell anybody about us, but.." The SkyWing's voice trailed off, a look of hurt and guilt on her face. Sand cat's heart leaped, and a stab of hope fell through her. She didn't want her killed. "Wait, I think I hear Red." A beat. "Yup. You stay here, and you're better off not poking your nose through everything. There are some pretty icky corpses in here." Pyrr left, and the soft murmur of voices followed.
Soft enough that cleverly, even though the group of dragons was only a few meters away, she could barely hear them. Sand cat focused on her food, and with a little disobedience, she managed to find a bit of salt and soy bean powder to season up her wolf meat. About 15 minutes later, Pyrr and Red went back into the tent Sand cat was in.
"We've made a decision." Red said, in a blank tone. "We've decided tha-" Before Red could finish, there was a numerous amount of roaring. From what Sand cat had heard of different roars, this one wasn't good. Red didn't hesitate, she immediately seized Sand cat's arm and shoved Pyrr out the tent's door. "What's going on? Why is there roaring?" Sand cat cried, hugging herself with her wings. "Shhhhh." Red cat closed the tent's door, making it seem only Pyrr ran out. There were snarls, grunts, roars of pain and you could just faintly hear claws slice scales.
Without warning, Sand cat went limp and blacked out.
== She woke up.. ==
When she re-gained consciousness, she felt air whipping past her face. And her wings. And her talons. After a quick peek, she scrabbled and nearly made whoever was carrying her fall out of their wind current. "OH my moons. Red-knee, you didn't tell me she would scrabble around like an angry kitten!" The voice was undoubtedly male, which was a little confusing, it didn't sound like Fennec or Assassin Bug.
She opened her eyes again, curling her wings around her body, and saw that it, indeed, wasn't any of the dragons she knew from her abductors. This dragon has deep, gaudy, and a little bit grey-ish green arms that were muscular. Black-gold spots dappled his claws, and she noticed his wings her leaf-shaped and the color of a thunderstorm sky. A LeafWing, she guessed. If she recalled her lesson/guide from Pyrr, the dragon carrying her was- "I didn't know she would do that, Skullcap. Give me a break, it was MY plan who got us out. You guys should be thanking me!" She looked around, and she saw Red-knee, Fennec, Assassin Bug, she saw Pyrr, and who she suspected was Caribbean.
Skullcap let out a hiss. "Yeah, but I got scratched from this rat's tail a dozen times! Why can't YOU hold her? You love her that much, maybe you should just adopt her!" The LeafWing whined, and Sand cat had to put her talons on her ears to avoid non-stop complaining.
She looked up after a few minutes, and it took her a moment to stop admiring his scales. He had rich, green eyes and his underscales were a red-wood brown. The same dark golden color dappled his neck and tail. He yawned, and she noticed a few black spots on his upper-jaw teeth. Weird.
Fennec grumbled something, and yelled over to Skullcap, "if you're going to keep complaining, at least don't DEAFEN her. You're too scrawny, I'm going to hold her you blind baboon." Fennec came wheeling over to her, and it took all her mental energy not to shrink into Skullcap's warmth. She carefully was set onto Fennec's back, and she hugged his neck. Sand cat whimpered as he flew ahead, and before she knew it- she realized she was actually happy. Not only was the sun beating comfortably on her back, Fennec was just as warm. He was flying high, and he would occasionally slow down to stay behind everybody. He'd sneak glances behind the whole group, at her, below and above them, he was truly wary of their surroundings.
It stayed the same for hours. They were travelling from the forests of the Sky Kingdom, to what she realized the swamps of the Mud Kingdom. Red-knee landed and said almost immediately, "alright. We camp here. Caribbean, do you have the tents? Good. Pyrr, help them set the tents."
Red-knee, for once, didn't seem like a dragonet-sitter anymore. She seemed determined, girlboss, independent, and a true leader. Finally, she gave orders to Fennec. "You, will look after Sand cat."
And he did.
== Fennec said nothing.. ==
Sand cat sat beside Fennec, who (like her) was watching everybody progress. Sant cat kept sneaking glances at Fennec, trying to analyze his overall appearance.
He had pale, dusty scales and his tail barb was an odd brown-black color, which she'd never seen before. His wings were a pretty tawny-gold color, which matched his sail. He had a common look, but he'd still stand out. His snout had a scar across his face, between his ear and his left horn. He was gaunt, like everyone else, but he looked strong and had a bored, intimidating aura.
She exhaled, and went back to watching everybody else. She'd already memorized what they looked like, though Assassin Bug was a bit hard. He was always wearing a cloak, and wasn't when she least expected it.
She pulled her mind off appearance. Red and her group had a way that they worked. It was kind of harmonious. Assassin Bug, Caribbean, and a bit of Skullcap were the ones who were pulling in supplies, lifting crates and barrels. Pyrr and Red were settings up tents, and they had to call over a grumbling Skullcap to help with the biggest tent, which (after a bunch of more soft-looking supplies were dragged in) Sand cat realized that was the sleeping quarters. Then, after some sharp looks Red was giving Fennec, he took her inside of the tent.
It was huge inside. There was six sleeping spots, though one looked crisp and bright compared to the others. The others, though, had a few stains and were dully-colored. They were all different colors, and after a second Sand cat realized they were colors of dragons. There was a black one with an orange stripe, probably Red-Knee's. A red black-spotted one, for Assassin Bug. Sandy gold, Fennec. Ocean green, presumably Caribbean. Gold with green and brown blotches, which looked a lot like beans then blotches, for Skullcap. A pretty maroon-red-purple color was the last one, which was for Pyrr. But the brightly-colored one was a mix of colors. It was overall stunning. There was macaw blue, mahogany brown, pearly ice-white, midnight black, tawny, golden-orange, and then pearlescent purple. For the final strip of color, there was a throw-in of pinks and magenta.
"The eye-blinding one is yours." Fennec grumbled. "Since there is really nothing you can get your talons on, I'm leaving you here to help Skullcap and Caribbean set up." He paused before he left the tent, and gave her a wry look. "If you find any knives, don't go throwing them. If we do end up keeping you, I'll teach you instead of you flingin' em' everywhere." He left, with a flick of his unusual barb.
Sand cat didn't know where to chuckle or scream or sit down in awe. Was that a promise, or a joke? Fennec could joke? FENNEC HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR??
Sand cat couldn't take this. She sat down on the "eye-blinding" bed, after thoroughly checking it for anything that could stab her. When she was sure there was nothing, she drifted out to sleep.
But sleep was a long way away.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)