Drowning

This fanfiction is based around the Wings of Fire series, written by Tui T. Sutherland and published/owned by Scholastic Press, USA. All canon characters are from the series, and all fanon characters are a work of fiction.
You may NOT use ANY content from this fanfiction without the author's permission.
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==Author's Note==
Now that I think about it, I think reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain influenced me, because I'm seeing a lot of similarities between Khonsu and good 'ol Huck Finn. So I suppose I'll throw that out there.
==Drowning==
We live in a big world. I know this because my mother told me so. I remember every word she said, every word I said... every sound, every star, every detail.
I pointed to the night sky and asked, "Mother? What's out there?"
Mother took a few steps to stand by my side. She lowered her head to mine and explained everything. "Khonsu, we live in a big world, a very, very big world. The sky is what's beyond our world. The stars are where all dragons go when they die."
"So when I die I'll be a star?" I summarized.
"Yes."
"Is Palm a star?"
"Yes."
"So... Can we go get her?"
Mother was taken aback by my question. "What? Oh, no. No dragon goes to the stars until their time on Pyrrhia is up."
"But the stars are right there."
"It may look that way, but the stars are actually far, far away."
"But I can fly and get one! Which one's Palm?" I started bouncing on my talons and fidgeting with my wings. I felt like I could leap into the sky, grab the star that was Palm, and bring her back to Pyrrhia. I could do it! Mother was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
"Khonsu, you can't fly up to the stars, or the moons, or even the sun. Palm will spend the rest of her time as a star."
"No! Palm will come back!" I argued childishly.
Mother grabbed me in her talons, trying to comfort me. I stuggled against her unnatural strength. "Khonsu, stop it." she ordered. I stopped struggling, my tail hiding part of my pouting face. Mother gently lifted my tail with two talons. "Khonsu, Palm was very happy with us."
"Of course she was! That's why I want her back!" I interrupted.
"Shh," Mother hushed. Then she continued. "But she's much happier up there. Eventually, when our time has come, we'll get to see her. Then we'll all be happy."
I groaned in defeat. Then my emotions took control.
"I want to see Palm again," I whined, tears streaking down my sand-hued face.
"I know. We all do."
We live in a big world. I know this because I have flown around the world, time after time, and have found new things each time. Each time I tried to reach the sky, the stars. Each time I failed.
Several times after that night, I tried to reach the sky. I'd climb to the top of a palm tree, leap off of it, and flap my tiny wings to their greatest extent. I'd chase the sun, the stars, and the moons. And they'd always run away from me. It was like they were taking Mother's side. It was as if they didn't want me to see my dear sister again.
And in this world is life, death, love, hate... I know this because my father told me the night before he disappeared and joined Palm in the night sky.
"Father," I said as I entered his workshop. He was working on something that was bright and gray and shiny. It made a weird clanking sound everything I tapped it with a talon; it was a sound that seemed to try to escape the item itself, but was pulled back in by an invisible force.
"Yes, Khonsu?" he answered, turning to face me. I could see black, dusty marks on his talons, like he'd been working all day.
"Mother said we live in a big world." I began.
"Your mother is right," he said, returning to his work.
"So, I was wondering.... what's in our world?"
Father immediately stopped his work, contemplating the question. He put down his tools and slowly turned his head to look at me. "Well, well," he sighed. His gaze dropped to the floor. "We do live in a big world. And in this world is a lot of things."
"Like what?" I piped up. "That's what I've been asking."
"Things like life, love, death, and hate."
"What are those?" I asked.
"Well, life is what we are. And death is the process of... er... becoming a star."
"Oh, so Palm is death?"
"Not exactly. Palm is more of.... let's go with dead."
"Okay!"
"Woah, no need to get excited." He swallowed nervously and continued. "Love is how you feel to Palm and your parents. Love is how your mother and I feel for you, Khonsu, and Palm." He then took a deep breath. "And hate is the opposite of love."
"What does that mean?"
"Hate does a lot of bad things. Because of hate, all the dragons are fighting. It's why I have to go tomorrow."
"Wait... where are you going?"
"I have to go resolve a few things."
"Will you come back?"
"I promise, Khonsu. I promise."
And in this world is life, death, love, hate... I know this because I experienced it first-hand. Father left that very night, and he told Mother and I that he loved us. I told him that I loved him. Then he left, flying off into the night, wearing that weird stuff he had been working on.
And I guess.... By leaving us, he left life. By flying to the stars, he joined death.
Because he never came back.
And it's easy to get lost in this world. I know this because I'm lost. After a strange red dragon with giant yellow wings came up to Mother and whispered something in her ear, she burst into tears and told me to go to bed.
"But I want to know what the strange dragon told you!" I protested. The red dragon gave me a glare with his flame-colored eyes, and Mother pushed me along while sobbing.
"Go to bed, Khonsu." She then turned to the other dragon and dismissed him. "Thank you," She then stalked off to the other side of our home.
I woke up the next morning to see that she had disappeared as well.
Me? I'm lost. After Mother disappeared, confusion took over. I didn't know what to do. Every now and then a strangely colored dragon would come up to me and say "I'm sorry," and try to hug me, but I would thrash out at them. Then they'd walk away, or if they were red or orange, they'd blow a spurt of flame at me first, and then they'd leave.
Finally, after several nights of the same thing, over and over again, I left. I trampled my way across the deserted dunes, with only Palm and Mother and Father to guide me. I had torn my wings in the process of escaping an angry orange dragon, so I was stuck with running. Each stride ended up with my talons buried under a half foot of sand, so it took a lot of effort to keep up my speed.
I eventually came across a small city full of rattling tents and blowing sand. I stalked through the streets and alley ways, only to see a few shadows. They scared me, so I stood hidden. Thanks to my hearing, I could pick out what they were saying.
"Did you hear about that SandWing dragonet?" asked a brown dragon.
The other, a golden-orange dragon, blew a spurt of flame. "You mean the kid that lost both of his parents? Yeah, I heard of him."
"Oh, he's an orphan? I didn't know that."
"Well, you tend to not know anything."
"Hey!"
"Haha," he laughed. "I was just messin' with ya."
"Oh, well," I saw the brown dragon's shadow settle down. "That would have been good to know."
There was a short pause between them. I could hear their heavy breathing.
"About that kid," spoke the orange dragon.
"Yeah?" spoke the brown one. "What about him?"
"Who's lookin' after him? I hear his parents were killed by Queen Glacier herself."
"Oh? Really? Well, SandWings are built for survival."
"That's true. And now that you bring it up, it's kind of unnatural that he had parents in the first place."
By this time I was shivering so hard that I bet they could hear my bones rattle. Eventually I was shaking so violently that I took a few steps back, only to fall over my own feet. In the process, my clumsy tail knocked over several gray things like the stuff Father had worn. It fell to the hard, sandstone paths with a bunch of loud clatter.
The other voices stopped in an instant.
"What was that? The mailman?" asked the brown one.
"It could be a spy," the orange dragon muttered angrily as he turned the corner. I found him standing over me, only a few meters away.
The brown one appeared by his side. "Hey, Thunderbird, do you suppose that this could be the kid?"
"Now that I think about," said the dragon I assumed was Thunderbird, "I think he is."
"Oh, cool!" The brown dragon bounced on his heavy talons, sending soft rumbles throughout the strudy, sandstone buildings. "Can we keep him? We could be his parents! Like, I could be the father and you could be the mother!"
Thunderbird gave him a sharp glare. "Do you realize how weird that sounded?" He snarled. At that point I had had it. I scrambled to my feet and darted away. "Wait, kid!" Thunderbird shouted.
"Oh, look at what you did! You scared him," shouted the other.
"It was you!" shouted Thunderbird. "Now don't just stand there, git 'im!"
I heard wings shuffling behind me. That motivated me to run a bit faster, but I still couldn't fly. When I turned a corner, I dropped to me feet and shoved myself into the sand. I hoped my makeshift camouflage would hide me until those two strange dragons went away. A heavy set of talons landed right next to me, making my heart jump to the speed of light.
"Where'd he go?" asked Thunderbird, the dragon who had nearly landed on top of me.
"He's just a little dragonet, he couldn't have gone far!" I heard the brown dragon shout in dismay, a little ways off.
"He's got to be here somewhere," Thunderbird hissed. I heard him shuffling around in the sand.
"SandWings give off heat, don't they?" offered the other dragon.
"Of course, yes!" Thunderbird said, stopping his movements. "Iron, you're a genius!"
"I know I am," Iron said pleasingly.
I could tell that Thunderbird was waving his tail and talons around, feeling for a difference in temperature.
Oh no, I worried. Don't find me don't find me don't find me go away there's nothing to see here go away please....
"Hey!" Thunderbird shouted. "I think I found something."
"Or someone," Iron said as he trampled his way over. "Yeah, this is him." I could feel his talons grip my back, and that was it.
Drowning in love for my family... I began thrashing around as the two other dragons struggled to get a grip on me. One seized my flailing tail and held it out of the way. Another set of talons grabbed my wings and pinned them to my body, as two more sets of talons grabbed me as a whole and held me.
"Lemme go!" I yelled, refusing to give up.
"Kid, calm down!" shouted Thunderbird, the dragon who was holding me.
"No! Let me go!"
"Calm down! We're only trying to help you!" Iron pleaded.
"No you're not! If you were helping me you'd let go!" I argued, still thrashing in Thunderbird's talons.
"Calm down, kid." Thunderbird ordered. His voice scared me half to death. I stopped thrashing and started sobbing.
"Oh, look at what you did, Thunderbird," Iron teased. "You made the poor guy cry."
"Shut up," Thunderbird snarled at Iron. To me, he said in a more calming tone, "Lookie here, kid, we're sorry about what happened to you. We just-"
"No you're not!" I yelled, leaping out of his grasp. "You don't understand!" I started to run away, but Iron grabbed my by the tail and yanked my back.
"Kid, we want to help you," The orange dragon tried to reason with me, but I wouldn't listen.
"No, you don't! Lemme go!" I started thrashing around and throwing a fit again.
"Hey Thunderbird, maybe he's not the right dragonet. Maybe he's Thorn's rumored dragonet. If that's true, then we're-" Iron started worrying, but Thunderbird hushed him.
"Don't be ridiculous. Here, I'll ask 'im." He turned to me. "Hey kid, does your name happen to be Khonsu?"
"There's no way he's going to-" Iron started.
"Hush."
I just sat still and gaped at the two strange dragons. Iron had reddish eyes that gave me the creeps, but Thunderbird's eyes were creepier. He had a patch of golen scales running from the top of his head, through his eye, and stopping on his cheek. It was shaped like a lightning bolt, so he was conveniently named or ended up with a mean nickname. But the whites of his eyes were an electric blue, and the iris was almost as red as Iron's.
"Well?" Iron ushered.
"Yeah," I said weakly. "I'm Khonsu."
"Hear that?" Thunderbird laughed. "He's Khonsu."
"So, can we keep him?" Iron started bouncing on his feet again. "Like I said, I could be the father and you-"
"Oh, for the love of the SandWing sisters, shut up, Iron, shut up!"
"Well, it's a good idea..." Iron's statement trailed off into a eerie silence where we just looked at each other.
"So, eh, kid? Where ya from?" Thunderbird finally spoke up.
"I don't know. I ran away." I started crying like the little dragonet I was.
"Poor guy," Iron sympathized as Thunderbird patted my back.
"Think we could take him to Burn? She may have room for him." Thunderbird offered to Iron.
"But I wanted to keep him!" Iron whined.
"No way," Thunderbird rejected. "He's doesn't have that MudWing instinct. He won't last a day in your troops."
"Oh..." Iron's mood seemed to decline. "Maybe he can go with you! Then I can visit him!"
"No, that won't work. A SandWing can't fight like a SkyWing."
"Exactly!"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"The enemy won't expect it!"
"But he'll be the only SandWing."
"It won't matter. SandWings tend to live alone."
Thunderbird seemed to take that into consideration. Then he shook his head.
"No. I think he should go to Burn."
"Yeah, you're right."
Then they both turned to me, which scared the daylights out of me.
"So, Khonsu," Iron started.
"Why don't you come with us?" Thunderbird continued. "We'll take you to Burn."
"Who's Burn?" I asked.
"She's a SandWing, like you." Iron answered.
Thunderbird nodded. "She'll make sure you're taken care of."
"Is she Mother?" I asked, wondering if Mother's name was Burn.
"Well," Iron's eyes searched the night sky for an answer. "Not really...."
That was it. I scrambled out of their reach catching them off guard.
"Wait! Kid!" Thunderbird yelled, trying to calm me down and grab me. But my tail scraped across his orange scales, making him howl in pain. "Three moons!" He yelled.
"Thunderbird!" I heard Iron shout, but I was to far away to see what happened next.
Hate for my enemy... I ran until my talons gave out from under me. The air around me was significantly cooler, and I could see my breath. Each time I breathed the air burnt my lungs, but in a cold way. You know, Mother used to boil water and she'd scold me every time I stuck my talons in it. But when I did, it so was hot that it felt cold. I guess this also goes for what was happening to me at the time. It was so cold it burned.
Finally, when I couldn't stand the cold anymore, I breathed a plume of fire to warm myself up. Well, it wasn't the best idea, because a troop of patrolling dragons saw it.
They landed next to me, and the lead dragon shouted, "Hey! You, kid! Stand up and claws where I can see them!"
I sprang to me feet out of sheer surprise. "Wh-what?" I choked.
"Yeah, you! Claws and tail in the air!" they shouted.
I did what they told me to do, and they walked forward and looked at me suspiciously. They were even weirder than Iron and Thunderbird; they were the color of the snow and they had spikes sticking up all over them.
"Hey, he's a SandWing!" one pointed out.
"Yeah, but for who?" said another.
The lead dragon stepped out and said, "Where did you come from? North or south?"
"Uhm... I... I... I ran... away..." I muttered, unsure of what this "north" and "south" was.
"From where?" he prompted.
"From home." I answered.
He snarled. "Now, quit being a smart aleck. Did you come from Blaze's forces?"
"Who's Blaze?" This immediately caused a riot. They started pushing around and yelling at me.
Finally, the lead dragon spoke up. "Quiet!" he yelled, and he got it. "Do you know who Queen Glacier is?"
Thunderbird's words cam tearing at my memory. "I hear his parents were killed by Queen Glacier herself." Time seemed to slow down as I processed these details. Then, something inside of me snapped.
"Queen Glacier killed my parents!" I yelled, and I started swinging my wings, tail, and claws in all directions. I could feel myself hitting those ice dragons, and they started screaming when my tail hit them. Their blood spilled all over me, and I could feel their icy breath and their icy claws.
Eventually, although I don't remember it, I ran away from them.
They were IceWings.
They were IceWings led by Queen Glacier.
And Queen Glacier killed Mother and Father.
Life of the young... After that, I returned home. I came across a city known as the Brightsting Hall, where I set up shop. I figured I'd spend my time sharing the story I had and see how far it got me.
I walked through the crowded streets, seeing young dragonets run around as if they had nothing to worry about. I remember the time in which I was a young dragon...
Death of the old... I also witnessed the unneeded deaths of several other dragons. I remember one in particular...
I was standing on the outskirts of the city, just gazing at the vastness of the desert. I then heard shouting, and I turned to see an IceWing and a small gang of SandWings.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know! It won't happen again!" The IceWing pleaded through a heavy set of chains, cowering into a ball of frost-choked blue spikes and scales.
"You're darn right, it won't happen again!" yelled a SandWing, who then thrust his barbed tail through the IceWing's skull.
I'll never forget the IceWing's look of fear before he died.
Several days later, I saw the same gang prowling through the streets. One was leading the group, two stood beside and behind him, and one other carried a bunch of heavy chains on his back. He lagged behind, the weight of the iron bearing him down.
Something clicked in my mind.
I'm lost. I walked up to the gang, head high and tail raised. The leader noticed me and stopped the others.
"Hey squirt, whadda ya think you're doin'?" he snarled. The others laughed at me from behind his back.
"I think I'm talking to an idiot." I answered, no fear in my voice. I had learned to talk this way from my time in the Brightsting Hall.
The gang members stopped giggling. They glared at me, and so did their leader. He took a few steps toward me and put a claw on my neck. "What did you just say?" he snarled.
"I said that you're an idiot, basically. But, since you're an idiot, I assume you were having a hard time picking that out. Here, let me spell it out for you. Y-O-U-A-R-E--"
"SHUT UP!" he yelled. "NO ONE talks to me like that!"
"I just did."
He raised his tail, ready to stab me, and I did the same.
"Wait a minute there, boss," muttered the dragon with the chains on him. "Maybe we should stop all of this reckless killing. I mean-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. "Boss" sprung around and stabbed him in the chest. The other dragon fell to the ground, the chains making almost as much noise as his screams.
"Do any of you have anything else to say?" he snarled at the other two. They hung their heads low, looking at their deceased companion. "Good." He then turned to me. "What 'bout you?"
"You're an idiot and a careless murderer."
I suppose that pulled his chain. He lunged at me, tail raised high. Before it could stab me in the face, I used my rear legs and kicked him in the gut. He flew back right from where he came from, crashing into the other two dragons.
"You stupid little frog-faced piece of armadillo hair!" He cursed, but I paid him no heed. I grabbed the bloody chains of the dead dragon and ran off to the oasis.
"And so here I stand," I said, looking up at the shocked faces of my audience. They were mostly SandWings, but I could see suspicious SeaWings, sorrowful MudWings, shivering and sweating IceWings, and the unpleasant faces of SkyWings, each one staring at me, watching for my next move.
I had the chains wrapped around me, my legs, my arms, my tail, my wings... and a heavy weight at the end of them.
"Wait," said a SandWing. "You're not going to..." his gaze wavered at my chains and the oasis that was only inches away from my feet.
I nodded, confirming his suspicions.
And then I fell backwards.
The water hit hard, harder than the time when Palm died, than the time Father left, and the time Mother disappeared. But yet I took the gut-wrenching pain and opened my eyes, and through the water, I could see longing talons reaching for me, but the faces they belonged to knew that there was no hope.
All light disappeared, darkness enveloping everything. I suppose they know say the the Brightsting Hall oasis is know haunted with the lost spirit that drowned, looking for his family... Mother and Father said they'd be here... with Palm.... in the night sky... with the stars... and I'm lost in this darkness.
Where are you?
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)