Family Ties

(Ok, ack, I got this entry in super late! Sorry about that :3)
This is my WoW entry, the prompts are Secrets, Weapons, Lies. 
FAMILY TIES
==Prologue==
Welcome everyone to my scroll!
Wow, that was a terrible opening. Sorry about that, I really need to work on my openings. To be fair, this is my second scroll that I've ever written, and the first one was when I was three, and it was about a dragonet named Button who goes on an adventure to find an enchanted gem to stop a great evil. 
STOP LAUGHING. Ok, I can't see you, but of course, who wouldn't be laughing at that? I'M laughing at it and I wrote it! Ok, I think I'm rambling. I would love to erase this part but of course I'm writing with ink and I don't think I can erase it without making a huge mess, and I don't think I would like to have splotches of ink all over my scales for the rest of time. 
Well, probably not the rest of time, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE. Ok, we should probably pretend none of this ever started again. Here we go . . . 
Welcome to the scroll entitled Family Ties!
No that won't do either.
How about . . . 
Well hello readers, or reader, out there. Why are you here? Is this something that your parents forced on you? One of those scrolls that they shove into your talons and say "READ IT, IT'S VERY GOOD!" (Even though they've probably not even read it themselves.) and you really don't have much of a choice? Were you bored in class and this was the first scroll you saw and decided that it had to be better than learning about the fundementals of flying? Trust me, you don't want to skip the fundementals of flying. I didn't pay attention and it was very embaressing when I was EONS behind my classmates. AHEM, ANYWAY. 
Or are you defying all odds and actually interested in my life? I'm not sure why you would be. It's not like I have created a cure for Scale Fever or created world peace or anything. I mean, my life is interesting to ME because it's . . . my life, but if it's my story you want (Or don't want?) then I suppose I should skip all my rambling and start the story. 
I'm telling this so that you don't hear it from the wrong dragons. Because trust me, there will be dragons who try to twist it to make THEIR side of the story the good side, when in reality it's MY SIDE THAT'S GOOD. 
Ok . . . uhm . . . let's begin! 
== Chapter One ==
A sea of golden light sprayed my scales with warmth as I stepped out of my small hut and into the warm morning. I spread my large dark crimson wings with a contented smile, breathing deeply. The morning wind swirled around my talons and brushed along my snout, bringing with it the faint scent of the ocean. I squinted out at the distant mountains, the palace of Queen Scarlet silhouetted in the sunlight, SkyWing's flitting around the mountain, their orange and red scales glinting like distant gems.
"EMBER." A voice suddenly broke the stillness and I nearly jumped off the nearby cliff in fright, whipping around so fast that I stumbled for a second. Apricot was standing in the doorway of the hut, her bright eye-ball scorching orange scales glittering like amber, her long snout wrinkled in fury. "I thought I told you to stay inside and rest, not go outside into the cold and make yourself worse." I blinked once at her, shuffling nervously on my talons, coughing once, but trying to disguise it as a dainty throat clear. I didn't need Apricot getting even more worried about me. 
"Honestly, Apricot." I said, trying an exasperated tone, though it still sounded drippy and whiny. "I'm fine. It's just a little cough." Apricot glared at me with her fierce golden eyes, but it had a layer of concern underneath it.
"Ember." She said icily. "You know better than anyone else that it isn't just a cough. You must fell the pain right now. I can see it in your eyes. Don't try to hide it from me, young lady. I've been taking care of you since you could walk." I rubbed my talons together with a frown. I didn't like to admit it but she was right. Each cough hurt more than the last, and I was trying to hide it. I didn't want to be treated like a tiny dragonet, incapable of being able to DO things. Apricot shot me a stern look when I nodded slowly. She spread her wing and with a sigh, I reluctantly let her drape it over my back and lead me gently inside. 
The smell of strong spices assaulted my nose as I stepped into the main room of our small, one story hut. My talons sank into the layers of carpet lining the floors, walking towards the light wine red couch in the center of the living room. 
Apricot sighed and walked towards the dragon snoring on the cough, surrounded by scrolls and empty coffee cups, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. 
"Cardinal." Apricot whispered to her sleeping wife gently, shaking her shoulder. Cardinal made a loud snuffling noise and rolled over to her other side, knocking a few coffee cups to the floor. Apricot let out a low chuckling noise and shot me a wink, before leaning over to her wife's ear. "WAKE UP CARDINAL." She roared at the top of her lungs. Cardinal let out a shriek, first of terror, then of surprise, falling off the couch with a loud oof. 
"APRICOT." She yelled, shoving Apricot's shoulder gently. "You know not to disturb me when I'm in the zone." Apricot's eyeridges raised slowly and she sniffed, shooting an arch look at the couch. 
"Hmm, the zone. That looked a lot like sleeping." Cardinal's face went slightly red (well, more red than usual) and she began picking up coffee cups, stacking them into neat stacks. 
"Well," She let out a long yawn. "I have midterms to grade and over sixty papers to look over . . . " She trailed off at the look on Apricot's face, rubbing her eyes with a frown. 
"And you thought that you could get it all in one night?" Apricot said in a surprisingly gentle voice, rubbing Cardinal's back as Cardinal stretched out her wings and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Tsk, you can't grade well when you have a lack of sleep." Cardinal sighed, and suddenly shot Apricot a sharp look, walking over to their small kitchen and tossing the coffee cups into a trash can before moving back onto the couch, gesturing to me to sit down next to her. I snuggled in next to her and she placed a warm green blanket over my shoulders. 
"Well maybe I wouldn't have a lack of sleep if you didn't scream into my ear to wake me up. There is such a thing as waking up naturally." Cardinal teased, nudging my side heartily. "Right Ember?" 
"Well I tried, but if you didn't stay up so late I wouldn't have to scream in your ear." Apricot retorted, flicking her long orange tail. "Right Ember?" I glanced up from my preoccupied staring at small ant crawling gently across the carved coffee table. Oh, they're talking to me. I gave a hesitant smile, glancing between both of their hard faces that were staring right at me, my mouth opening and closing silently. 
"Um . . ." I said slowly, not really wanting to agree with either of them. We had been through this same thing so many times. Their teasing-arguments always ending in me having to choose a side, and then I would either get cookies for dessert (That was if I sided with Apricot) or chocolate mousse (That was Cardinal's specialty). And then the one I didn't side with would be sour for a bit, before they forgot about it. It was almost constant. And they teased each other so often that it was hard to keep track of what they were sour about. "Well I mean . . . er . . . " 
A long moment of silence passed, broken only by the occasional flapping of wings coming from outside as other dragons in our waking village began their day of work. Suddenly, there was a sharp knock on the door. "OH LOOK," I yelled, perhaps a bit louder than necessary, causing both Apricot and Cardinal to jump. "THE MAILMAN IS HERE! I'LL GET IT!" Scooting out of the room as fast as possible, I ran over to the door and flung it open. 
"Good morning little miss." The mailman said in a creaking voice. I blinked for a moment, startled. 
"Oh," I said slowly, trying a cheerful voice, but still mostly failing to disguise my confusion. "I thought it would be Ash." Ash had been delivering our mail for as long as I could remember, and she always gave me little candies from her husband's candy shop. The SkyWing squinted and tilted his head, beginning to dig through the mail pouch with slow, old movements. His scales were a strange washed out orange like someone had scrubbed his scales with the steel wool that Apricot sometimes used to clean particularly stubborn dishes. 
"Nope," He said in a warm voice, handing me three scraps of parchment. "Just old Cerise. Ash went off to fight in the war." I suddenly felt cold all over, and looked down, shuffling on my talons. We didn't hear much of the war that had been raging across the continent for three years now, we were just a small farming town. 
Not many dragons went off to fight in the war, but we would hear about the occasional dragon leaving for service. Or being called to service. I prayed every day to the moons above that Apricot and Cardinal would never get called away. It would destroy me to see my quirky, kind parents in any kind of danger. Cerise suddenly made a clicking noise with his tongue and he patted her talon. Something in his gaze felt strange, like he was trying to place something, trying to remember something. 
"What?" I couldn't help but ask. Cerise's brows unfurrowed and his gaze clouded over. 
"Oh nothing," He said, but there was something odd in his tone. "Just . . . you look like someone I used to know." I tilted my head to the side, scrutinizing him with a frown on my face. I was pretty sure I had never seen him before. Maybe . . . that dragon who used to teach my biology class? No, he had red scales, not orange. Plus a way crueler look on his face. 
"Who?" Cerise shook his head violently, smiling, but there was something troubled in his eyes. 
"Oh no one. Just someone I used to know in Cuesta." 
"Cuesta?" I repeated, dropping the fake cheerful voice to reveal the heavy confusion in my tone. 
"My old town before I moved here. I had a mail route there." He explained in a voice that reminded me of when Apricot's father used to come over and he would pat me on the head constantly and ask about how I was doing in school, but I could tell he was barely thinking about my answer. 
"Oh . . . um . . . well I've never been there. I think." I said slowly, my claws tapping like they always did when I was thinking hard, twisting the mail between my talons. Cerise suddenly gasped and I shot him a concerned look, but he shook his head again. 
"No." He murmured, more to himself, shaking his head again, as if trying to get a thought out of his head. "Not possible. Not possible." I wrinkled my snout and took a step back, and he glanced up with surprise, as if forgetting I was standing there. 
"Have a good day miss." He said hurriedly, and spread his huge wings, flapping away noisily. I watched him until he was just a small speck on the distance, heading to the houses that were higher up on the mountain. That was weird. I've never been to Cuesta. The only place I've been besides . . . well here, is Queen Scarlet's palace for that party one time.
 "Ember!" A voice, Apricot, suddenly yelled from inside the house. "Are you getting the mail or flying to the moons?" 
"Apricot!" Cardinal barked loudly. "Give her a moment. It hasn't been that long. Plus, you're not one to talk, you take this long to do practically every menial task I can throw at you. How hard is it to put the dishes away?" 
"You throw them at me because you're too lazy to do them yourself!" Apricot shot back. I bit back a smile, sorting through the mail gently. 
"LAZY?! WHY YOU-" I quickly leapt into the house and jumped between them, pushing the mail onto the table. Shooting each other daggers with their eyes, they sorted through the mail, hissing at each other and poking each other gently with their tails. 
"Ember dear, why don't you lay down? I'll make you some breakfast. We'll make you some breakfast." Apricot said, shooting a smile towards Cardinal, patting my talon gently. Cardinal nodded, snatched the letters off the table and skipped into the kitchen. Amber stood up to follow her, but I stopped her before she could go. 
"Apricot." I said slowly, but paused before I could continue. How could I ask this? How could I even ask this? Would Apricot really know more than me? No harm in asking. I thought with a shrug. "Do we know anyone in Cuesta that . . . um . . . looks like me?" I could see the moment that the question sank in, because Apricot blanched, her scales becoming pale, and her face taking on an expression like she had seen a ghost, before she quickly smoothed over. 
"I don't think so." Apricot said in a strained sweet voice, but before I could ask more, she fled into the kitchen. I watched her vanishing orange tail, blinking, before laying back into the couch, my thoughts spinning in a circle. That was weird. I thought, wrapping the blanket closer around me, my claws twitching. That obviously disturbed her. But why? Did Apricot know someone from Cuesta that . . . looked like me? Why would they never tell me about it. 
I had always thought of my mothers as beacons of truth. Beacons of what was good. But that answer. Her face when I asked that. Something has just felt off. Like there was something she didn't want me to know. Me and my mothers had always promised to tell the truth to each other? 
But could they be hiding something from me? 
== Chapter Two ==
"So I made eggs, bacon from the pigs Finch gave us, some of Apricot's delicious sourdough bread, and then, of course, my wonderful frittata." Cardinal placed the dark pan on the table, next to the other dishes. She sat down next to me with a contented nod, and I felt my stomach growl, the scent of the food quickly drowning out the heavy perfume of spices. 
"Well don't knock it before you try it." Apricot said in an amused voice, sitting on my other side and taking a piece of bacon and popping it into her mouth, munching loudly. "Last time I had your frittata, I had an eggshell in it." Cardinal wrinkled her snout and sighed, looking over the vast array of food on the table. 
"Well . . . " She sputtered. "That was back when I was terrible at cooking! I'm MUCH better now." Apricot let out a small, dainty laugh, picking up a slice of bread and spreading a thick layer of butter on it. 
"Yes dear." She said affectionately, handing me the piece of bread. I began to nibble on it, watching their antics with a smile. They may be hiding something from me, but they really do love me. And I love them. But I need to find out what Cerise saw in my face. Why did he think I looked like someone he used to know? Should I talk to him when the next mail day comes? I shook my head, finishing off the piece of bread and licking butter off my claws before picking up a small cup of tea. That won't be for another two weeks. No, I need to talk to my mothers about it. But I need the right time. 
I glanced at them over the tea, watching their teasing-scowling faces over the mint scented steam. Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Content (DeltaTheSeaWing)