Short Au stories

== Story I ==
She stood at the edge of the lava, stretching as far as the smoke would let her. Heavy steel chains weighed down on her neck and wings binding her snout. There was a tiny white dragonet standing next to her. They'd come any second. Three nightwings, maybe more. Sometimes more came in. 
There they were. Three brutish nightwings. One's face was contorted by venom scars, until his eyes were barely visible. The other two had a few scars, but all three were holding long, pointed spears, hooked in various ways. All three landed, on the edge, muttering to themselves, She stood in front of them, waiting. One reached forwards, sticking the spear in her lock, dragging it up, down, right and left. The lock clicked, and the snout band fell off. If on cue, she sprang forwards, unhinging her jaw, unleashing her venom on scar face. Scar face tumbled away, disappearing under the lava. 
She reached forward, grabbed the spear, although it fough her every move, resisting the rainwing. Another nightwing tried to grab her, but she shot more venom, and he ran off, screaming like he'd been hit. The third pinned her down, the spear pressing her weight into the hard, stone floor. The dragn growled, spit dribbling from his jaws, before he too, screeched, jumping up and falling into a pit. At the end, behind her, was the little rainwing, holding her dripping mouth. The rainwing nodded, pointing to the outside. The little dragon ran off, turning into a nightwing and flying away, hopefully out. 
The other rainwing grabbed the spear, still trying to pull her down, and stuck it under a band on her wing. She wrenched it under her wing, slowly bending the metal until it snapped, falling to the ground with a clatter. but when she looked at her wing again, at least five more bands had made their way onto her wing, snaking down. No way she'd get them all off in time. The nightwings would be back any second. Any second now. There had to be some other way out. 
She stared out at the lava river. Infinite, like an ocean, from horizon to horizon. In the distance loomed a massive volcano, smoking, rumbling faintly, muffled. Behind her just stretched more lava, aside from her and her little cave. Maybe she could hide in the little cave, camouflage. But the bands snaking around her neck hissed otherwise. She looked up, to the sky, waiting, for some miracle to fall from the sky. 
Something did fall from sky. But it wasn't help. A nightwing, with a snarled face, baring yellowed teeth fell from the sky, lunging down with sharpened claws, cold like ice, slamming into her neck. They were screeching something about the earth, as their claws forced her down, the cold ground meeting her face with a sickening crack. 
Glory opened her eyes, rubbing her agonized temples. Turns out, the rumbling ground wasn't her imagination. The ground really was shaking, cracks growing in the floor of her cell. The yelling turned out to be Splendor, who was having the equivalent of a panic attack in her cell, flapping her white wings. What? What's going on? Why is the ground shaking?
"MMF!" The chain still bound her snout tightly, it seemed to be fine that the earth was shaking. The rumbling grew louder, and louder, drowning out Splendor's cries. When Glory glanced up, nothing could stop her scales from going pure white. Crack covered the ceiling, threatening to fall on her. Stones and shards fell from the sky, clinking on her bands. A sinking feeling was growing. There was no way she could escape. Even if she managed to get out, by some mercy, she had no idea what could be up there. Ash, fire, hundreds of angry nightwings? Who knew? And what about the other rainwings? Splendor, Orchid, little Kinkajou (if she had managed to escape); would they all be trapped down here, left to die? Glory grabbed at her snout band, trying to wrench the thing off, but to no avail. 
Suddenly, Deathbringer came flying down the stairway, covered in ash and smoke. He had a ring of silver keys on his talons, jangling as his face slammed into the bars ahead of him. A hooked spear also fell from the entrance, rolling to the nightwing's feet. He staggered to his feet, coughing and wheezing. Glory tried to yell again, but her mouth binding still held. Deathbringer's ears perked up, and when he saw Glory, he yelled something, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He ran to her cell, grabbing onto the bars and fuddling with the keys, desperately apologizing, but she could barely hear him over the rumble. 
"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know where you were! I couldn't get to you until- I pretended to be sick-" The lock clicked, and the gate swung open, Deathbringer flinging himself inside, wrapping his wings around Glory, his warm scales meeting hers, the ash and soot filling her snout, catching her by surprise. But she barely had a moment to react before he dragged her out, flinging her to the ground. 
"Glory, you need to stay low. Once you get out, head for the shore. Take the spear and use it to free your wings. Don't worry, I'll get the other rainwing too. I'm sorry." He shoved her forwards, and she instinctively started running, pacing the hard floors, fighting past the exhaustion. She grabbed the spear, heavy, but no longer fighting, and climbed up the stairs, looking back at Deathbringer, who was rustling with the keys, as Splendor ran around like her head was lobbed off. She turned, and ran outside, into the open.
None of her nightmares came close to this. The entire volcano's side was collapsing, boulders larger than her being swept away in the lava, and rock were spewing from the peak, burning as they fell from the sky. The rivers of lava had swollen past their banks, tearing down small buildings that dare stand in their way. There were no dragons in sight, they had probably left some time ago. So much smoke had filled the sky to the point where it was nearly impossible to tell where the shore even was. Glory strained her eyes and searched the chaotic landscape. There! She could see the outlines of a shore, where lava turned to rock, and water into steam. 
Grasping the spear, Glory ran for the shore, climbing over shattered rocks, biting back the smoke in her lungs and pain in her legs. Almost thankfully, the lava had knocked down many buildings and rocks, forming a variety of land bridges she could use to climb over. But it was no easy task. Multiple times, she had nearly slipped into the lava, heating up the metal bands and almost burning Glory. Each time filled her with new energy, fear propelling her to climb back up and keep crawling. The ground rumbled ferociously, lava pouring from the volcano like a fountain, threatening to top her over and push her into the awaiting fire. She step she fought the agony in her joints, each breath fought the urge to keel over in a coughing fit. 
Finally sinking her claws into the sand, she looked around. The exit wasn't far, but it was blocked by a flood of magma, making the water boil and sizzle angrily. Nope. She'd have to take off the wing bands, which felt like fire on her scales. 
Thankfully, Glory still had the spear, although it's wooden handle was burnt in places. She wrenched it under her wing bands, unlocking them with the familiar mechanism on her snout, using a patterned she'd memorized from when the guards were brave enough to feed her. Wonder if they are brave enough now. Wonder where they are now. 
Thankfully, there were only a few, which came off easily. But underneath, her wings were singed from the bands, or when she had gotten a little too close to the lava. But with no other way to get over, flying was her only option. She looked down at her metal bands. Maybe...
Glory grabbed two of the bands and took off, flapping over the lava. Even flying was a struggle, every bone in her body fighting to fly over the river. Once, she started to droop, slowly getting closer, until she could feel the heat searing her face. She pushed the first band into lava, using it to propel herself upwards, flying higher. She tumbled to the other side, landing on black sands, covering her in soot. 
Glory rolled to her feet, letting the other metal band lay there, and stumbled to the entrance. Where was Deathbringer? The black dragon was nowhere to be found, neither was his rainwing passenger. She had to wait for them. There was no way she could leave without him, right? After all, he had left her in a dark cell, saving her at the last minute. Why hadn't he come sooner? Did he just not care? 
Her thoughts were interrupted by a large boom from the volcano. A large side had fallen in, kicking up an oncoming wave of ash, smoke, and fire, racing to cover the entire mountain. She couldn't wait much longer. Where ARE YOU? She just spotted a dark shape flying right ahead of the clouds, with a pale white figure right besides him. No time to waste. Glory ran through the hole, feeling the prickle under her talons, running upwards. The sounds of the volcano's rumble faded, replaced by the soothing of the rain. Rain. The rainforest. Glory ran forwards, almost thrilled to finally escape. 
She was met with the soft pitter-patter of raindrops, falling coldly on her snout, relaxing. It was cold, with fresh air. Glory had barely realized how much she missed the fresh air, the cold and refreshing feel of water. She opened her eyes, looking at the deep trees and ground, all fading to one in the dark of the night. 
"MOVE!!" Deathbringer shoved her forwards, off the branch, escaping the smoke that billowed from the entrance, Splendor running behind him. Glory managed to glide down, landing in a river nearby. Oh, did the river feel good. It was cold, cold and calming. 
But as she sat there, staring up at the leaves, a different sinking feeling overcame her. Where were the nightwings? Surely they didn't let themselves burn in the lava. Where were her friends? What about the other rainwings? The 14 trapped down with her? There was Splendor, but where was everyone else? Did they make it out? 
"I think you have a few questions." Deathbringer was over to her left, probably looking down at her. Glory didn't move, wanting to bask in the water a little bit longer. 
Glory looked over to the side, and rasped, her voice filled with ash, "Where are the nightwings?"
Deathbringer stopped. He froze, hesitating.
"Our Queen gave the order to attack the rainwing tribe at midnight. I feigned being sick so I wouldn't have to go, but everyone, everyone left, and..." He stopped, looking down. Glory's head sank. The nightwings were here? In the rainforest? Taking it over? What about the other rainwings, what about-
"Where are my friends?"
Deathbringer replied, fear trickling in his voice, "I-I don't know. I think they might have gotten away, but I don't know where they would be now."
Not helpful, but one question kept crawling in her mind, one that she was almost scared to ask, for the answers it might bring. 
"Deathbringer, where are the other rainwings? The ones that I was also trapped with." 
He froze, stunned with how to answer the question. His face, covered in shadow, hid all emotion. "Glory, I-" He paused, letting the words fall from his mouth, soft as rain,
"Glory, the Queen ordered for all the captive rainwings to be executed before they left. It's a miracle that they forgot you and Splendor in the dungeons."
All of them. Glory reached up to her face, covering it to bite back the tears. She dug her talons into her face, stricken with pain. How? How could someone be so cruel? It agonized her to think of those rainwings, trapped, starving, waiting for a sun that never came. 
She rasped, holding her face in her arms, "Gibbon... Orchid," She dug her talons in harder. How was she going to tell Mangrove what happened? If he was still out there, "K-Kinkajou..."
"Haha! Nope, not me! Big mean night dragons can't get ME! Ha!" Glory snapped her head up, looking at the direction where it came from. Kinkajou was standing there, an annoying yellow and pink, with the metal bands across her neck. and tail. Glory couldn't stop herself from turning that ridiculous shade of pink either, almost relieved that at least someone made it out of there. 
"Kinkajou? You're alive!" Glory cried. 
Kinkajou looked down, tapping her talons. "I tried to tell everyone about the volcano, but none of the other rainwings would believe me. Bromeliad even told the others I was a big liar and had just hidden in the rainforest for a while. But I didn't, you know that!" 
Glory steeled her nerves, turning to the grey of the river. "Kinkajou, this is very important. Where are the other rainwings?" She'd hoped that at least one dragon knew the answer. 
Kinkajou smiled and waved behind her. "They're all right here! When the nightwings attacked, all of the rainwings suddenly trusted me where to go. But I didn't know, so I kinda waited by the tunnel and hoped you would show up. And you did!" Behind Kinkajou, about twenty dragons materialized from the leaves and branches. Most were in shades of blue, white, and green, the rain masking any tears they would have had. Some were clutching eggs, tiny dragonets, or what few possessions they had. Glory spotted Mangrove among the crowd, who looked sadly back at her. They were probably scared, terrified. They'd just been chased out of their homes, lost, with nowhere to go. 
Glory looked down at her talons, burnt and scarred from the ash and smoke. This should not have happened. None of the rainwings captured, no rainwing ever should have to go through this. If the nightwings were going to just march into the rainforest and take what they wanted, then they were going to have to fight for it. 
She stood up, mustering up all the grit she had, and asked, "Who here knows where the queens are? Ignoring Splendor here." Splendor didn't say anything, just stood among her fellow rainwings, shifting from pale white to a pale lilac. 
One rainwing piped up, "I-I think they were captured? I don't know how many though..." 
Glory opened her wings, and commanded, "Fine. Some is good enough. From now on, I'm taking leadership. I'll be your new queen. And I won't step down until the rainforest is ours again." Gasps of surprise and whispers of suspicion crept through the crowd, the rainwings chatting among each other. Would they accept her? Or would they run away and go somewhere else. With Splendor here, they would probably reject Glory, the strange, injured dragon from nowhere.
Splendor stepped forwards, glancing back at the others. "I support Queen Glory. I will help her take back our home." Many rainwings seemed surprised, but some started murmuring. Kinkajou hopped happily forwards, and announced, "I'm with our new Queen. And you should be too."
"I agree." Mangrove stepped forwards, looking back at the others, with a bit of scorn in his face. "Glory did more than any of us ever did. I will not loose more rainwings to these invaders. No more." Glory managed to smile lightly at Mangrove, struggling to push back the agonizing thoughts of Orchid. Mangrove smiled lightly back. She couldn't tell if he was crying too, as the rain made everything slick. 
Then another rainwing stepped forwards, annoucing his support for Queen Glory. Then another. And another. Each of the twenty rainwings stepped forwards, each saying how they supported Glory, declaring that they'll help take back their home. Seeing all these dragons, all willing to support Glory, it filled her with an overwhelming sense of confidence. She would find her friends. She would free the rainforest. And nothing could stop her now. 
Deathbringer stepped up besides Glory, and asked, "So, Your Majesty, have any ideas?"
Glory smiled, and said, "I have a few."
-End-
Au: Deathbringer never arrived to save Glory in time, so she remained trapped in the volcano until the nightwings invade the rainforest. But this rainwing is not finished yet. 
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Category:Fanfictions
Category:Alternate Universes
Category:Public