Scales (Bronze)

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Authored by BronzeRattle
Complete! Started on April 10 2022 and technically finished on June 1 2022. Last important edit was on January 2 2024 to shorten timespan fanfic takes place in.
This is the new location for ; see the history of the story there. Also read the for significant changes to this story.
Next story is Ice on the Horizon.
=== Summary ===
Silvana was as much RainWing as one could be, or would be if she didn't have especially pink rogue scales. Or a muscular frame. Or unnaturally accurate aim. Say, what was she? And why were 3 intruders so interested?
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SCALES
On most days ending with the moons in the sky, Silvana did not like her scales.
There were times where yes, she would glance at them through blue puddles, see their pink hue, and smile because no other RainWing in the rainforest was this color. But then there were times—too many in fact—where they were a fat inconvenience.
Like now.
She was sitting out once again outside the hatchery, excluded from the fearsome activity of playing hide and seek because she just couldn't camouflage. Never have, and never would. The closest she could get was when they reacted to her harsher emotions. Currently, they were light tangerine from her hidden anger, pink here and there where the moisture wasn't enough to change her scale color to its designated one.
"Silvana," sighed a voice that she could recognize in her sleep. The dragonet turned around to spot Terrace dotting his usual "I'm-disappointed-in-you" coloration of dull green. She frowned, feeling her own scales shifting color but not bothering to look. "What?"
He tilted his head, scales lightening slightly. "I've never seen them do that before."
"Do what? Never do what I want them to do?" Silvana glanced down at her legs, finding them a similar green to Terrace. "Oh yes, they do that when you're about to blab at me. Don't ask me why, maybe it's a sign that they're as tired of your motivation efforts as I am."
"Maybe that's what we need to do. If your scales respond to mine on instinct, perhaps you need some reference and lots of repetition." Terrace's scales returned to its normal pale blue color. "Fly with me."
Silvana pouted. "I hate flying."
His eyes gave hint that it was an order. "Silvana."
"Fine!" She flapped her orange wings to lift off into the sky.
~
"Silvana, we really need to figure out a solution to your scales not shifting color," continued Terrace once the two were high above the canopy.
She blew a raspberry, sticking out her forked tongue.
He kept on. "See, I heard of a RainWing who couldn't change his scales. But that was from the fact he couldn't ever sleep for long periods of time due to a snout deformity. You don't clearly have that, and you can sort of change color. Maybe you need to sleep more."
"I don't want to do that," Silvana fussed. "I don't want to waste my days napping and eating bananas. I want to fight!"
"Fight?" He echoed, looking bewildered.
"Yes, fight! I think I can be a real good fighter, pink scales and all. Why don't you teach me how to do that instead of giving me pep talks all the time?"
Terrace shook his head, his scales falling to an emerald green. "See, I knew you'd inherit some traits from your mother, but I didn't think willing to fight was going to be one of them."
Silvana arced her head. "Who was she anyway? You never talk about her."
He crushed the air as his frill became faintly reddish. "A RainWing. She couldn't stay to watch you hatch because she had an assignment elsewhere, but she was feisty. You should've seen how she acted while dreaming. Her name was Civic."
"What did she look like?" cautiously asked Silvana. She sensed that this was a sensitive topic.
Terrace halted in the air, turning toward her. "Beautiful. She earned her name Civic because she was born in civil twilight. Maybe that's why she looked so darn odd because her wings tended to inherit the color of the sky. If it was crystal clear, they were blue." His arm shifted colors to demonstrate as he went on. "If it was murky, they'd be a dark foreboding green. And if it was twilight—her namesake—they were indigo, blue, and pink, laid in tiny studded scales like sparkly stars. She had no clue why she did this—We couldn't figure it out the whole time we were together. But Civic was okay with it, and she was deadly smart too. She could figure out what you thought of her in no time."
Silvana was somewhat miffed at this fact. "That's why my scales are unresponsive. Because of her."
"Hey, she didn't think this would happen," cautioned Terrace. "She was the one who named you Silvana. Civic was always good with ideas. Much better than I am."
The dragonet looked over her shoulder. "Hey dad, I think the healers need you. There's three of them behind us."
"There are?" He seemed puzzled. Judging from the way he was arcing his head, somehow he couldn't see them.
She nodded. "They're very clearly over there, all white. One of them has blue stripes on his tail."
He suddenly seemed alert. "Blue stripes? Blue stripes! Oh no!" Terrace whirled into a dive into the canopy. "Silvana, get down now!"
Alarmed, she folded in her ivory wings and dove down to where Terrace was in the trees. He shook his head, whispering. "IceWings. Silvana, those dragons, IceWings, want you dead. Keep out of their sight. Find a good spot near me."
He camouflaged to the color of the tree trunk, leaving the dragonet to scramble to her own tree. Her pink scales looked as wrong as ever in the shifting shadows as she glided in desperation. Each streak of perspiration left a line of green down her scales. Her heart pounded in her ears, almost blotting out the sound of wing flaps.
There! She found a small cave just under some massive thorny tree she didn't have time to identify. Silvana slipped inside, pressing herself against the moist dirt wall. Her horns brushed some roots, and she was pretty sure a spider was making its way up her pink spines, but the dragonet stood still as 3 distinct thuds resonated some 20 feet away.
"I'm certain I saw something pink here. Whitish too. Like an IceWing, but a hybrid, if that makes sense," something hissed at the air.
"Yes, more of Aeolis's work we have to take care of. Or, a stupid RainWing. Either work. The former is more preferable, since it looks better on us three and you Glaucous need that."
"She still doesn't trust me. I took some oaths that made me want to claw my eyes out, and she was convinced enough to put me back in the Fourth Circle, but apparently not enough to be back in the army," the IceWing called Glaucous responded. A wave of cool met Silvana's scales, causing her to shiver slightly.
"Those Circles!" complained a different, higher pitched voice with an odd twang in their accent. "You don't need those Circles. Our former queen demolished that system a while back: Cumulus reinstated it back because she's a barnacle when it comes to old traditions."
"Coontail, I will tell her you said that if you don't shut your trap and look busy," threatened the first voice with a vicious snarl. Talons stomping in the undergrowth then followed.
"Now, back to business. IceWing!" He hollered, making Silvana jump, "Or, RainWing! Or, some hybrid between the two if you're who we're looking for. We are a group of the Hybrid Hunters: Surrender to us, or we will resort to violence. And we're very good at that.
"We would be better if you would let me do anything," fussed Coontail from some distance away.
"Zip it. I let you have a chance last time, and you blew it. No more."
"Maybe next time put the healer on healing duty, not on killing duty then," he rused, "Something is a yellow scavenger..."
Spines rustled. "See, now you're being-"
"Cleavage, listen," said Glaucous, "He's relaying."
The IceWings silenced. Silvana thought she could hear Cleavage muttering under his breath about incompetence. A tongue clicked. "Very scavenger-like. Large. Fruitful. Mildly green. I can't pinpoint the location, it's too hard to scent here. Too much disturbance." Grass rattled with what was probably a tail swipe.
"So that means..." began Cleavage.
"They're very close. And scared," finished Glaucous. "You two get searching. Coontail, let us know if it's more exact. Your nose hasn't gotten used to the region yet."
"It would be more exact if you didn't relay what you smelled like that. Why can't you tell us the thing we're looking for is scared right off the bat instead of needing Glaucous to translate?"
"Because it's more descriptive that way and I've been using this system for years. Yes, I will inform you Glaucous if it's more exact," he explained. Silvana could hear his voice shift from one ear to next, audibly turning around to concentrate.
Silence, besides the sounds of claws hacking through the vegetation.
A whistle broke the sounds of the jungle. She heard Cleavage holler, "Hybrid over here!", followed by three pairs of flapping wings. Once Silvana was sure they were far enough, the dragonet slipped out of the cave, catching sight of light pink Terrace skillfully weaving between trees. Surely they would realize he wasn't their target.
She leaped from branch to branch, gliding over larger expanses. Silvana wished she hadn't put off flying for so long: Some powerful wings is what she needed to escape from her perpetrators just about now. Every time her claws came into view they were more green than pink. Under normal circumstances, she'd be yelling at them, but for once green was a good color to match her emotions.
"By golly, you're fast! If you tried swimming, you'd be amazing around the reef," a voice enthused. A quick glance proved it to be Coontail, keeping an impressive pace through the trees despite his short spiked tail.
She shrieked as a branch smacked her in the face, toppling her over towards the ground. Silvana folded over to grab a hold of something with her long tail. All motion came to a stop as her tail wrapped around something sturdy. Upside down, the dragonet hissed at Coontail approaching. "That was pretty cool. I couldn't do that for the world. Do you need help?"
"I don't need anything," she growled, bending upwards to right herself on the side of the tree. She leaped off of its bark, flaring her ruff. Judging from the familiar hot feeling, it was probably just about orange at the moment. "Who are you?"
He stood up. "Funny that you say that, I was about to ask the same. I go by Coontail of the IceWings. We kind of need to take you in for examination, so if you would fall into our claws without resistance, that would be preferred."
She laughed. "Or else what?"
Coontail cupped his talons over her snout, kicking the branch she was hanging on to knock her down. Silvana hissed, trying to use her serrated claws to hold him back, but Coontail was too large and strong. He expertly held her at length while hollering to his companions to help. Soon enough, two more pairs of talons joined the fray.
"NO!" Terrace came out of nowhere, as red as Silvana had ever seen him. His jaw snapped open: His fangs pointed forwards to fire a solid black stream of poison.
Unfortunately, he wasn't great at aiming. Most of the lethal fluid fell short, with some splattering on the big gray IceWing. Terrace hissed under his breath, attempting to reposition his jaw to fire another jet, but the IceWing lunged straight at him with deadly claws. They crashed down on the forest floor.
Silvana felt a sudden urge of anger, so great that she took off toward Terrace before she had time to think. She dug her own set of claws into his side, causing him to roar and blast something extraordinarily cold from his mouth that barely missed her. Her tail was yanked by one of the other IceWings, and she saw something black and sparkly gold just before smashing against the ground.
~
Silvana had strange dreams.
At one point she dreamt she was entering a dark tunnel, hoisted by claws she couldn't see. At another, the world was white.
A claw jabbed her.
"Wake up, she'll want to make sure we didn't break you," stated a voice she recognized as Glaucous.
Silvana opened her eyes, realizing her limbs and snout were tied up with neat knots. She shot him a glare, flaring her ruff.
"Dirty RainWing genes! You could've been a great IceWing if you weren't tainted by your mother!" Cleavage sneered as he came over.
Civic? She thought but pushed the thought out immediately as she felt the air for the first time. It was terribly cold, absolutely nothing like the rainforest's year-round temperatures. It settled on everything, from her casque to her freezing tail tip. Silvana hated it already.
"Hunters!" The three IceWings stood up straighter than an arrow, spiked tails in matching positions. That's when the dragonet saw who had straightened them.
An IceWing approached, oddly tan colored in comparison. She was tall and built thickly, broad shoulders laid in pointed scales. Some of her large rounded scales were tipped in a near white color. Her tail slithered behind her, curling up like a snail. Silvana was pretty sure that she saw something bulbous, brown, and pointy at its tip before it disappeared from view. "Well, you found a member. I didn't think you would find anything in that bloody green basket, but here we are. Relay your report Cleavage."
"We soared over the rainforest, when Coontail thought he saw something pink in the sky. We investigated, and found this snip after some off-hand chasing what we thought was her but was a disguising RainWing. She was out for the entire day." He nodded, tail lightly slapping some white fluffy stuff on the ground.
"Ah, so my good Coontail found her." She smiled, dark brown eyes softening. "Good job. Did you get her name?"
Coontail shook his head. "No dice."
"Let's find out." The IceWing untied only her snout tie in several quick talon movements. "Hello! My name is Ecru."
"Commander Ecru, we didn't test her for breath weapons. I would keep back: She's likely deadly. You do remember that RainWings spit lethal acid, correct?" Cleavage reminded her.
She shrugged him off. "Of course I do. And plus, I'm the fastest striker in the West. If she tries anything I've got a nice SandWing weapon to silence her retaliation." Ecru averted her gaze to Silvana. "What's your name?"
"Silvana," She growled.
"You're quite immaculate, Silvana. One of the closer hybrids I've seen in a while. You could pass for an IceWing pretty much, except for this pink color," The IceWing jabbed at the dragonet's scales, "And the little frill. And also the long spineless tail. Say, have you tried swimming with a tail and frame like that?"
Coontail laughed. "I asked her the same as well!"
"Understandably. Hey, we should take her fishing if Cumulus doesn't sentence her to the dungeons or kills her-"
"WHAT?" Silvana gaped.
Ecru sat up. "Wait, did I mention that Silvana? Sorry, I'm so very scatterbrained. Hybrids make me so excited! If it was my decision, I'd show you the wonders of the kingdom you're missing out on. But it's not and Cumulus just absolutely hates hybrids. Except me and my brother of course, because we proved ourselves to be integral to the kingdom's fu-"
"Commander Ecru, Queen Cumulus is getting impatient," urged Cleavage.
Ecru's tail slammed on the white cold stuff. "Acorn tusks, you're right! Glaucous, you do the ties so nice and pretty, please redo her snout one so she doesn't spit venom or frostbreath or some combination of either. She's small, so if you could carry her that would be sunbursts. Cleavage, she'll want to hear this expedition, so I hope you're ready for her objections."
Once Glaucous ensured that the dragonet couldn't speak, the dragons took off in the chilly blue sky. Everything was so crisp and clear, from the strange dull green needles of the tall trees to the spines on the IceWings located far below. They really did look like her, except that they were always white or bluish and occasionally purplish. Ecru was right: None of them were pinkish or had a frill or a long spineless tail. And she was sure that they didn't have stubborn color-changing scales.
She did see one anomaly: A convoy of IceWings that seemed to be escorting multiple other IceWings. It was hard to tell who they were guarding because they were flying in such close formations, but it appeared to be a small brightly-colored dragonet. She glistened in the sunshine with rippled purple and green reflections. A small bronze ring accented her right tiny horn. She seemed nervous, sticking right next to a much larger purple dragon who was spotted in light aqua like the dragonet. A gray IceWing to her left huffed occasionally.
Silvana wondered what that was all about. Was she another hybrid in trouble? No, don't be an idiot, she thought as she smacked herself with her dangling tail. Glaucous gave her a brief scowl. If she was a hybrid, she'd be with Queen Cumulus and be sent to death. Or something like that. She wouldn't have a wing of IceWings guarding her—She would be dead!
The thought made her spines tremble, even though her tropical scales were finally adjusting to this winter wonderland. Was it her fault that she was a hybrid? Not at all: She lacked the ability to control what kind of tribe she was. Silvana only knew about RainWings and NightWings. She hadn't even known there were IceWings and so-called SandWings until today. Maybe there are more out there. What else was Terrace keeping hidden from me? But now she wouldn't be able to explore because she'd be some trophy on a malevolent queen's shelf by the end of the day. Why hadn't she sprayed venom all over these thieves when she got the chance?
Utterly worthless little hybrid, her brain thought.
They made it to an impressive forretress made entirely out of ice. It was beautiful, but it only reinforced the shivers Ecru had given her, especially when they landed in front of a fierce-looking IceWing. She was cloudy white with pinkish undertones, and had glaring sapphire eye. Small scratches lined her scales here and there. Her wings were solid ice. On top of the dragon's head was a small crown of diamonds and matching rings on her talons. "Well, look who we have here," she snarled with enough force to shatter a tree.
"Queen Cumulus," The IceWings murmured, bowing in her presence. Silvana perked her ears. Uh oh, she thought.
"Pleasant to see another one of Aeolis's mistakes be found before it can cause harm to the world. But we need to find that terrible IceWing! He's caused too much damage already, him and his too many forbidden offspring," Queen Cumulus cackled. She smiled and closed her eyes, seemingly in a good mood. "Commander Ecru of the IceWings-SandWings"—her forked tongue seemed off on the last set of words as if they disgusted her—"you are needed pronto. There is an exceedingly important matter to discuss. Cleavage, you must wait for us to finish. Guards, throw the hybrid in our waiting box for now. I will decide its punishment later when I am in less of an elated mood."
Silvana breathed in relief. At least she wasn't going to become a shish-kabob just yet. But it was only prolonging the problem! She needed to escape, like, now.
She twisted her long tail downwards towards her arms, feeling a little bit of space to pull outwards. She quickly pulled her tail to untie the knot, just in time for Glaucous and 2 of Queen Cumulus's guards to pick her up. Silvana carefully undid her other knots, barely finishing the ones on her legs when a guard proclaimed "The hybrid is escaping!"
As fast as lightning, Silvana slapped her tail as hard as she could against her carrying guard's snout and flapped her wings furiously. The dragonet buried her tied snout in her claws to tear away the final tie. She arched her head in time to see a blue guard lunge at her. The two crashed into the fluffy ground, tumbling down the hill.
Silvana's claws exchanged with the guard's as they came down faster and faster. Finally, in a blur of impatience, she snapped her mouth open to spray black droplets of burning venom against a large scar on his chest. The guard's attacks faltered; She gave him one last shove to boost herself into the air. Silvana didn't have time to see what happened to him except that terrible screaming pierced the air as she was apprehended by the second smaller guard. This time though, she wasn't going to fool around. The hybrid's tail wrapped around the IceWing's arm to flip herself on the guard's back. When the bewildered IceWing turned around in a tizzy, Silvana's poison met her face in a splatter of black fluid forceful enough to cause the diamond-shaped head to recoil.
To Silvana's complete surprise, she threw out a skillful slash that cut straight through the hybrid's ivory webbing like paper. In her moment of agony for both parties, the IceWing made one last motion across the tendons in her wings before finally subsiding. Silvana stumbled off the IceWing, wing terribly injured. She didn't know if she could fly again, and certainly not now in this frenzy.
The dragonet weakly opened her wings but was finally pinned down by Queen Cumulus herself, talons holding her head horizontally to the ground. The queen was too large: Her body too far from Silvana's wee blood-stained claws to lash at. Her back talons had also been strategically laid on her tail, exerting too much weight. The giant IceWing laughed. "You thought I wouldn't notice, would you? Classic Aeolis hybrid move!"
Upside-down Glaucous popped into view, now with black scorching chains. He shook his head disapprovingly as he remade the braces with extreme tightness, including a series of extra tight braces on her tail.
Queen Cumulus smiled wickedly once he was done. "Nasty hybrid. I know another someone that you would surely enjoy. He's my most horrible prisoner, who craves IceWing blood and hates any kind of IceWing. You two would get along perfectly. Ecru, lock the dragonet with our forbidden hybrid and keep your tail barb right at its face. If it even thinks about moving, stab its eyes out. It doesn't need them, and surely doesn't need those flighty wings either. I will ensure that personally later."
She got off of Silvana finally, but not before delivering a final blow to her damaged wing. "Call this mercy, mistake. I can rip those tiny wings off your body, tear those black fangs through your throat, and spill that red blood in full detail. Don't defy me ever again!"
Something warm carried her on their shoulder, which was even warmer. A brown spine hovered just a few inches from her snout, but it wasn't necessary.
Because she had failed to fight her way out, and was living the worst pain in her life.
== (Trivia) ==
* The name "Scales" refers to not only Silvana's abnormal scales, but also how different she is from everyone.
* As documented in the archive, Scales originates from a failed writing prompt involving scale problems with Silvana.
* Scales is one of the fastest fanfictions to be completed, only taking 53 days. The fastest is "Until Tomorrow", taking less than 2 days.
Please ping (@BronzeRattle) BronzeRattle for concerns, as I don't always look for comments.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Genre (Short Story)
Category:Content (BronzeRattle)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)