The Second War

== Prologue ==
=== 5033 AS ===
The Mountain Wall was built so that it split Jade Mountain in half. Kinkajou thought that was rather cruel. Jade Mountain had been a place of learning, happiness, and peace, but they split it in half because of the Second War. Of course, there was no Jade Mountain anymore– the school was decimated, the mountain exploded by millions of cactus bombs until it no longer existed. All to build the wall.
Whenever Kinkajou saw the wall, she wanted to cry. She had helped build the school, helped create peace. But the SkyWings had to ruin it, didn’t they– when Ruby died of a disease, her pampered son had taken over(despite not being a Queen) and instantly wanted the MudWing land for his own. Despite everything he had been taught about peace, the Good Queen’s son was a monster, and nothing would change that. Because of his stupidity, the war began.
“Be careful here,” Tamarin said beside her. Her best friend, despite being blind, had insisted on coming along with Kinkajou on her journey to take supplies for the tiny seaside NightWing town of Renewal, hugging the Mountain Wall as they went. Renewal was still reeling from a SandWing attack– they were an important target, since they were technically in SandWing territory. “I heard there are spies,” she continued, “And they might– AIEEE!”
Kinkajou whirled around. The small path between the dunes was now overrun with SandWing soldiers. A knife was being held to Tamarin’s neck as she struggled, gasping.
“I recognize that one,” one of the soldiers, a large, gray SandWing growled, pointing a talon at Kinkajou. “She’s Glory’s friend, yeah?”
Kinkajou didn’t move. SkyWings and SandWings were everywhere. She didn’t even dare breathe.
“Yeah, Kangaroo or whatever.”
She bit back a retort. It’s Kinkajou! She thought angrily.
“She’ll be a good bargaining chip,” their apparent leader said. “The other one… I doubt it.”
“She’s very important!” Kinkajou blurted. “Glory loves her!”
“You’re lyin’,” the leader grunted. “Trying to save her. We don’t need two hostages, anyways. Lemming, just kill her now.”
A stinger plunged into Tamarin’s stomach at the same time the knife dug into her scales. She screamed in pain before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the ground.
Kinkajou couldn’t tell who screamed louder.
== Chapter One ==
=== 5033 AS ===
Allseeing yelped as she tripped over a rat, scattering the basket of fish she had been carrying all over.
She glared at the rat as it scurried away. Its fur was singed, its tail missing chunks. It had been two weeks after the SandWing attack, but the devastation was still everywhere. 
The SandWings had dropped firebombs on Renewal, and they’d been helpless. Hadn’t those two RainWings– Kinkajou and Tamarin– been supposed to arrive with supplies a week earlier? Allseeing didn’t know. 
“Here, let me help with that.” Allseeing’s best friend, Vaquita, crouched down to help pick up the fallen food. Vaquita was a SeaWing-MudWing hybrid, whose father had run away from Possibility when the war started and met Vaquita’s other father– the SeaWing one– in Renewal. Vaquita’s MudWing father went missing two years after Vaquita’s birth– six years ago.
“Thanks,” Allseeing smiled. "Did you see that rat…?”
Vaquita sighed. “They’re everywhere. It’s like they dropped rat bombs instead.”
Allseeing had to laugh at that.
The giant, stark castle loomed ahead of them as she carried the produce inside the massive double-doors, nodding at the guards she passed. Once this castle had been home to the old NightWing royalty, but it was more of a community center now. She liked it better than a real castle. Sometimes Queen Moon visited, and she liked that too.
She carried the fish to the kitchen, where her friend Harmony was working. Harmony was 10 years old, and worked in the kitchens to prepare for her future as a chef, but for now she just prepared ingredients for the cook who worked in the old castle.
“Hi, Allseeing,” Harmony said without looking up. Allseeing knew that she had foreseen her coming in. “The futures are looking good today.”
“That’s great!” Allseeing smiled. “Here’s that fish you wanted.”
“Thanks.” Harmony grabbed the basket and set it on the counter next to the cutting board. “I heard Queen Glory and Queen Moon are both coming by today… they’re going to talk to Fierceteeth about those missing RainWings. Kinkajou and Tamarin, I’m pretty sure.”
“They’re missing? I thought they’d just forgotten to deliver the supplies. Y'know, lazy RainWings..."
Harmony sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Allseeing, you need to stop doing that. It's rude, and you're hurting my feelings."
Allseeing winced. How could she forget? Harmony was one-fourth RainWing. She kept accidentally saying stuff like that-- her father, who had lived in the NightWing island, had a strong sense of NightWing superiority-- so strong that he tried to teach her that all the other tribes were leagues below the NightWings. Unfortunately, even though her father was dead, Allseeing still said things like that sometimes. "Sorry," she squeaked. 
"It's fine," Harmony grumbled, and started chopping the fish.
Sensing she'd overstayed her welcome, Allseeing said goodbye and crept out into the hallway, staring at the floor in shame.
"Ow!" she yelped as she ran into somebody. "Sorry!" She really needed to stop doing that.
Looking up, she discovered a RainWing in front of her. her scales were golden, with a few green accents on their face. "It's fine," she frowned, looking around the room.
Allseeing frowned at them. She had seen every RainWing in Renewal-- there weren't many-- and this dragonet, maybe her age or younger, was not one of those RainWings. "Who are you?" she asked, as politely as she could, since she had just ran into them.
The dragonet looked around again. "Promise not to tell anybody?" 
Allseeing smiled and nodded. “Won’t tell a soul.” 
”I’m running away from the rainforest,” she said. “I came here with Queen Glory’s entourage. I want to join the war.” 
“Do you need any help?” Allseeing asked. 
The golden dragonet’s face lit up. “That would be great.” 
== Chapter Two ==
=== 5033 AS ===
The RainWing dragonet's golden scales sparkled in the dim light from the candles. Vaquita watched her talk, trying to understand what she was saying. Her name was Rafflesia, and she had run away from the rainforest in hopes of joining the war, as Queen Glory said she was too young to help. When she heard that the queen and some of her advisors were heading to the MudWing kingdom on a peace mission, she rushed to join them-- but they came to Renewal instead, on the other side of the continent. When she realized, it was too late to turn back.
"...Queen Glory's distraught over Kinkajou and Tamarin. I knew them personally," Rafflesia was saying, a mango cradled in her hand. "She'd do anything to find them."
Something like shame covered Allseeing's face. "Oh. Yeah, they were going to deliver us some really helpful supplies to rebuild, but now we just have to wait for another."
"You think that's the bad part? We don't even know if they're even alive. Queen Glory would do anything to get them back. Don't tell anybody I said this, but I hope they're both dead. If the SkyWings use just one of them as a bargaining chip, Glory could give up the entire kingdom. She could surrender, and then the MudWings' main help would be the SeaWings, since everybody else is either very far away or useless."
"Where do you think they are?" Vaquita wondered. "The SkyWing or SandWing prisons?"
"If I had a guess, the SkyWings." Rafflesia picked some mango bits out of her tooth. "But it would probably be impossible for a dragon to save them."
"What about three dragons?" Allseeing grinned.
Rafflesia frowned, then the meaning of what Allseeing had said began to dawn on her. A grin slowly grew on her face. "Well. Then it might be possible."
"Allseeing, I can see an idea forming in your brain, and I do not like it," Vaquita said. If he were to die before the age of fifty, it would be Allseeing's fault. 
"Aw, c'mon, Vaquita!" Allseeing protested. "Don't be a rotting tooth. We could get fame. Glory. We could be rich! Not to mention we would help our side in the war very much..."
"Yeah, but what if we fail? The odds of us actually surviving are very, very low. If we get caught, we could be killed..." 
"Stop," Rafflesia said, putting up her hand. "I know you both don't know me, but I would love to go with Allseeing. Vaquita, you don't have to go, but I need to help." 
Vaquita put his head in his talons and gave a long sigh. "Fine. I'll go." 
"YES!" Allseeing and Rafflesia shouted at the same time. 
Vaquita sighed to himself. This was a very bad idea, and he knew it. 
But when Allseeing wanted to do something, she wanted to do something. And there was no stopping her. 
== Chapter Three ==
=== 5033 AS ===
Rafflesia watched Allseeing and Vaquita talk, and something like guilt started to grow in her heart. She'd had friends like that back in the rainforest, hadn't she? She'd had a future-- maybe not in the war, but as one of Queen Glory's advisors. But were her friends really friends? They never talked to Rafflesia, or hung out with her... loneliness started to mingle with the guilt.
"So what are we bringing?" Rafflesia asked, interrupting Allseeing's rant about heroism.
"Well, we need water, and food, and..." Rafflesia stopped listening, even though she was the one who asked the question. Allseeing seemed to know what to do, she could be in charge of packing. Just like Durian... No. Stop. Don't think about Durian. Forget him...
"...The real problem is finding them," Vaquita was saying when Rafflesia came back to reality. "They might not even be caught by SkyWings-- it could be SandWing soldiers."
"Let's hope it's not SandWings," Rafflesia muttered. "If it is, they're dead by now."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. 
"Maybe," Rafflesia clarified.
She knew from experience that the SandWings killed almost all of their prisoners, so she hoped it hadn't been the SandWings. SkyWings were less severe. 
But they had been in SandWing territory... 
"Let's go to the SkyWings first," Vaquita said. "That sounds reasonable."
"When are we going?" Allseeing frowned. "Tomorrow? A week? A moon?"
"Today," Rafflesia said firmly. "We leave today." 
“T-today…?” Vaquita gasped. “I can’t even tell my dad?” 
“Do not tell your dad,” Allseeing said, glaring at him. “Nobody can know, because they WILL stop us.” 
Vaquita banged his head on the table with a long sigh. "Allseeing, you know that he'll search the entire continent to find me. What if we just left our parents a note? That would be better. We wouldn't have to say where we're going or what we're doing, but maybe that would make them worry less..." 
"Too risky," Rafflesia said. 
"Fine," Allseeing said at the same time. 
Vaquita jumped up from the table and rushed to get some paper and a pen, hitting his wings on the ceiling in the process. 
He set the paper down on the table and started to write. 
Dear father, 
I'm leaving for a little while. This isn't your fault. I love you so very much, and if I don't come back alive, then-- 
"This is going to be one of those long-winded seven-page long letters, isn't it?" Allseeing groaned. 
"Shush," Vaquita said. 
--please remember me. I will miss you. I can't say much, but I am going to be saving somebody, and I hope I will be successful. You're one of the two best dads in the world. 
Love, 
Vaquita 
"Wow, you kept it short," Rafflesia said, snatching the letter out of his hand and reading through it quickly. "Allseeing, are you writing a letter?" 
"I'm sure Vaquita's dad will tell her, and they'll figure it out," Allseeing said, waving her hand dismissively. "We have to leave as soon as possible. Vaquita, go and pack. Meet me at the town square in ten minutes." 
And so Rafflesia followed her away, ready for either the best or worst decision she'd ever made. 
== Chapter Four ==
=== 5025 AS ===
Queen Sunny. That was her. The name still sounded odd when dragons said it. She couldn't be a queen, could she? Her mother couldn't have died so soon. 
Right?
But here she was, sitting at her council, and they were all looking to her for advice. Her. She was at loss for words. She wasn't the sort of dragon who gave orders, she took orders. Queen Thorn-- er, Ex-Queen Thorn, had only died two days ago. 
And Quicksand was missing.
That scared Sunny. Her daughter had always seemed strange, whispering behind Sunny's back and locking herself in her room for days. Oftentimes when Sunny knocked on her door, she only heard the rustling of paper and a hoarse roar of "GO AWAY!" Sunny had always thought that Quicksand was planning something. 
Then she heard the news that Queen Fierceteeth was dead. The NightWings had just left the rainforest five years ago, and they were already suffering from a tragedy. When they found the body, rested on her bed, seemingly asleep, there was a hole in the center of her face. 
Queen Fierceteeth had been stung by a SandWing tail.
Sunny knew that it was Quicksand.
One night when she couldn't sleep, she decided to try and find clues in Quicksand's room. As she pulled open the door, she took a look around: Quicksand's bed was on the far wall, next to the windows, where the curtains were closed. The floor and walls were covered in papers, as well as her desk. Sunny walked over to the desk and picked one up at random. 
"That's not for you to see."
Sunny spun around. Quicksand was standing behind her, a scowl on her face. 
"Sandy?" Sunny whispered. She held up the paper, where one word was written over and over again. "Are you alright?"
Suddenly, Quicksand lunged towards her. Her tail slashed Sunny's back, and she screamed in pain. 
"I will be alright once I'm queen," Quicksand hissed. "And I will be alright once you are dead. But for now, killing you will not be needed. I just need you to not be able to snitch on me."
Everything went black, and Sunny collapsed to the floor as Quicksand's talons connected with her jaw. 
Quicksand brought her to the infirmary, where nobody quite knew what to do with Queen Sunny, because she had no lower jaw anymore. She was paralyzed from the neck down, and would never speak, or walk again. Nobody quite knew how this had happened to Sunny, and nobody quite believed Quicksand's story that she had ben attacked by a coyote.
Queen Quicksand of the SandWings was crowned the next day.
The paper Sunny had picked up was covered with the word kill.
== Chapter Five ==
=== 5033 AS ===
The desert sand was scalding beneath Rafflesia's talons. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as she looked over at Vaquita and Allseeing. Allseeing was wilting beneath the sun, her pitch-black scales covered in a sheen of sweat. It was a good thing that Allseeing had packed so many jugs of water-- at least ten-- because every few minutes, Vaquita dumped half a bottle on his head.
"We need to get flying again," Allseeing said, shielding her eyes against the sun. "And let me carry the water jugs."
"Is that Quicksand's castle?" Rafflesia frowned, pointing to a shimmering, wavy object in the distance, with four spires rising into the sky. 
"I think so." Allseeing squinted at it. "Let's hope we don't run into any SandWing outposts. VAQUITA, IS THAT A FULL JUG OF WATER I JUST SAW YOU DRINK?"
"I'm thirsttyyyyyy," Vaquita whined.
Allseeing snatched the now-empty flask fashioned out of leather from his hands and stuffed it in her rucksack. "NO MORE WATER," she snapped. "You're not even a full SeaWing. You don't need it that much." 
Rafflesia lifted off the ground. "Come on. We need to fly past the castle, or else we're--"
"Or else you're what?" somebody asked.
Rafflesia spun around. A SandWing dragonet, older than them but not quite an adult, was standing behind Vaquita. Vaquita didn't notice him, eyes half-closed and wobbling from the effort of staying conscious.
"Vaquita!" Allseeing yelped, lunging towards him-- but the SandWing had his arm around Vaquita's neck now, tail poised to attack. "Don't. Move," he hissed as Vaquita froze.
"What do you want?" Rafflesia hissed. They felt her scales change color to crimson. 
"I don't want anything. Quicksand, however, said that I have to bring any intruders to her... or kill them."
"You're no match for three dragons," Rafflesia said. 
"I am if I have a hostage." the SandWing gestured to Vaquita, whose eyes widened.
Rafflesia looked down at her hands, which were bright red. 
"Look!" she pointed to the castle in the distance. "It's Queen Quicksand!"
That distracted the SandWing. As quickly as she could, Rafflesia changed her scales to yellow, then tan, then a sparkling golden until she matched the sand. She quickly opened her wings and flew behind the SandWing.
She grabbed the SandWing's tail and threw him, sending him stumbling across the sand. As he regained his balance, Rafflesia lunged towards him and repeatedly battered his snout with her fists. "OW!" he yelped, rolling over and causing Rafflesia to fall onto the sand a few feet away.
She quickly got up, spitting out sand. “Allseeing, Vaquita, a little help please?” She croaked.
The trio quickly surrounded the assailant. “Three against one,” Allseeing hissed. “Surrender.”
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions