Broken Memories (Nebula's Story)

(Ok, welp, here we go!! I hope it's ok that I use Cetus in this, whoever owns Cetus, though it won't be much, I promise!)

(THIS IS KIND OF A SHORT STORY!!)

Nebula's island and her flight path to Seaside ----------------------->

## Prologue

### Antagonist(s)

Duststorm

The night was cold, and so was the water, pounding against the fleeing SeaWing's wings. Clam beat his wings faster, listening to the sound of dragons behind him. They were getting fainter, but still there, tiny, but very distinct. He took a deep breath, willing his tired wings to keep going. Suddenly, a loud roar.

Clam's scales went out in an instant, and he dove to the bottom, laying against the wet sand, praying his scales would be good at camouflage. He waited in tense silence for a minute, breathing softly, but no dragons pounded after him, so he lit up his scales a little, then surfaced, gulped some frigid air and kept swimming, pulling his claws through the water.

*Pull kick, pull kick.*

 Clam frowned. He had come this far, he wasn't going let his dragonets go. They wouldn't be much use to him lying broken at the bottom of the river. Clam swam and swam, only thinking about how everything had gone wrong so fast and the mantra.

*Pull kick, pull kick, pull kick.*

 After what felt like forever of nothing but water, Clam finally spotted a small island ahead, and he gasped with relief, pulling his head out of the water, clutching the two eggs tighter. Clam gasped, out of breath, dragging himself onto a beach, breathing heavily.

The water lapped lazily against the shore, and a single palm tree waved hello to him. Clam dug his claws through the wet sand, feeling clumps of it stick to his sky-blue claws. He put the small purplish-blue egg in the notch, laying back, looking up at the dark night sky. He took a deep breath and looked down at the other egg, slightly smaller, but just as beautiful. He put that one in the same notch, then sighed melodramatically.

*What was I thinking? Giving up Lapis, and my life for a few dragonets who may or may not hatch?! Why would I even want one!? Lapis is gone, so it doesn't matter now anyway. And now my life will never be the same. Oh why hadn't I just left the dragonets to them? Why did I have to be so utterly selfish?* He glared down at the two eggs, the source of all his troubles. *What was I thinking?* He thought again, shaking clumps of wet sand from his claws.

"You eggs." He muttered. "Are nothing but trouble. Lapis always thought so. And look at me now. She was right."

The eggs responded with nothing but a haughty tilt over to the left.

Clam flexed his tired wings, leaning backwards, looking up at the sky, but keeping one eye planted firmly on the eggs, in case they suddenly sprouted wings and tried to fly away. If they did that, then *he wouldn't let them.* He'd risked too much for these eggs, and he wasn't going to let them go easily. "Hmph. Well at least now we can start over. Of course, I would much prefer all four of us here to start over. But what do I know?" He muttered. Clam looked up again, stroking the slightly larger egg. "Aren't the stars beautiful?"

He spotted a giant purple and blue nebula. *Wow, that's beautiful.* He looked down at the egg, which had the same swirling pattern. *Well, we're all for strange names. Isn't that right, Nebula?* He looked down at the other, which looked supremely uninterested. *You'll be...what was the name that Lapis wanted you to have?* He stroked the egg. *Oh yes, Cetus. The legendary star monster. Both of those are more of a NightWing names, but hey, maybe if* they *hear about it, they'll think they are NightWing's instead of SeaWing's.* He grinned. *I promise you two, what happened to Lapis will never happen to you. You two will have the happiest lives, and those cruel dragons will never get a hold of you.*

*I may have not been much of a mate to Lapis, but I'll try, I'LL TRY, to be a good father for you two. I'll teach you to stay on the island, and remind you constantly of the pain that our family has had to endure.* He looked down.

*I'm ready to start over. I'm ready for the world. But is the world ready...*

*For my dragonets?*

## Chapter One

*Seven years later...*

"Come on slowpoke!" Nebula called to her brother. She sped ahead on the sand, flapping her huge wings.

"Slow...down!" Cetus yelped, flicking his tail impatiently.

"NEVER!" Nebula practically shrieked over the howling wind. She shot into the air, clutching wet sand, then in one graceful movement dropped it all on her brother's head. Nebula burst into laughter, clutching her stomach, shoulders shaking as the sand splattered all over her brother. "KELP-FACE!" She laughed. Suddenly, a dragon cleared their throat from behind Nebula. She jumped and turned around, teeth bared in case it was an intruder. Which is wasn't. Unless you call *interrupting a fun game that Nebula was totally DEMOLISHING Cetus at* intruding, then he TOTALLY was.

"Come on you two." Clam said, tapping his talons impatiently. "We don't have all day." Nebula groaned.

"But why do we have to fish ALL day EVERY day?" Clam frowned and gave Nebula the excuse-me-who-is-the-parent-here-that's-right-ME look that he ALWAYS gave Nebula. *Neeeever* Cetus, no matter how many times he put crabs in her bed. She frowned back, but landed, bumping Cetus's wing with her own. "Last one there is a rotten jellyfish!" Nebula shouted, then ran back to the tiny hut made of bamboo and leaves. When she stepped into the dim doorway, the smell of fish assaulted her nose immediately. Nebula tried not to wince at the shape the kitchen was in.

Usually, it didn't matter to her. Who cares how some room in the house looked? It's not like anyone was coming to their house anytime soon or anything like that.

Though now... it was kind of hard to ignore.

You could practically *see* how frazzled Clam was when he started to work. Splatters of blood covered the island in the center of the kitchen, at least, that's what Nebula called it, fish guts were spewed all around, and piles of dead fish lay in woven baskets on the ground. "I CALL TAKING THE FISH TO MARKET!" Nebula yelled suddenly, making Clam and Cetus jump about a mile, which almost made the pain worth it.

"What?!" Cetus groaned. "I don't want to spend the day flying over the ocean, looking for slippery fish."

"Too bad SO SAD!" Nebula cheered, already grabbing a huge woven basket of different varieties of fish. "I called dibs!"

"She did call dibs. You know the rules of this house." Clam pointed out from the doorway, flicking his wings with an amused expression.

"But the rules aren't fair!" Cetus sat down and folded his arms across his chest.

"Bye LOSER!" She poked him with her tail, giggling. "See you tonight!" Nebula said, kissing her father sweetly on the cheek. He grabbed her arm in a strong grip as she tried to brush past him.

"Remember," He said in his cold voice that he used when he was being very, very serious. "Do *not* give unfair trades. Do *not* come back here until you have traded away all the fish. But most importantly," He stopped dramatically, locking Nebula's cool eyes with his. "Do *not* fly during the night. You know about the dangerous dragons that prowl during the night. Do you hear me, Nebula?" Nebula looked at her father, then nodded, her eyes softening.

"I understand father. Don't worry about it. I know the rules." He released her arm and stepped aside to let her go out the doorway, flicking his wings with hers as she disappeared out the doorway and stepped back into the bight morning sunshine. Nebula stepped off the tiny porch and onto the warm sand, letting the ocean lap lazily at her talons. She took a deep breath and flexed her wings, tensed her legs, getting ready for the long long flight ahead of her.

Nebula would rather swim, but fish tended to get kind of floaty and drifty and gross and floppy when they hit water, so unfortunately, she would have to fly. Nebula shot into the sky, whooping as she turned a half loop, then caught the basket. "Bye Father!" Nebula waved while balancing the basket on one talon.

"Bye Kelpie." Clam waved back absentmindedly, directing Cetus over to the ocean. Cetus frowned up at her, but Nebula pretended not to see it as she swooped over the ocean, and began the long, hard journey to the Seaside Market.

## Chapter Two

By early afternoon, after a long, tiring day of flying, Nebula finally spotted the shore. She gasped with relief, trying to balance the tray of fish and flex her wings at the same moment. Nebula swooped gracefully down onto the sand, then began to walk, grateful to give her wings a rest. Nebula shifted the basket to another talon, flexing her claws.

"Morning Neb!" A dragon called cheerfully from her stand in a singsong voice.

"Morning Herring!" Nebula called back, waving. She quickly landed in the center of the market, where the dragons in Seaside were just starting to wake up.

She quickly waltzed over to an empty stall right in the middle of all the rising action, right on the paved cobblestone streets. She looked around. This was a good location. The mishmash houses provided a few good customers while the waving palm trees created an inviting and cool area, the fountain in the center of the plaza was spraying water.

She squinted up into the sun, feeling tiny beads of sweat on her forehead. Yes, today was a good day, but she would have to hurry. The fish would rot faster than normal in this boiling heat. She quickly waved away a few hungry dragons and began to set the fish down on the wooden table, setting the empty basket down next to her and began to call out.

"FISH FOR SALE!" A few dragons looked her way, but quickly averted their eyes. Nebula frowned. She wasn't being persuasive enough, eh? "***FISH FOR SALE!!! GET THEM WHILE THEY'RE FRESH!!"*** She bellowed loudly. The dragon's next to her jumped and gave her a startled look, but she didn't care too much.

Who cares what some wierdo dragons think about her? Finally, after a long time of bellowing, someone smiled and waltzed over to her.

"What kind of fish do you have?" The SeaWing asked, her sea foam green eyes sparkling. Nebula smiled, though there was something that made her feel kind of strange.

"Oh we have cod. And salmon and you know, a lot of other kind of seafood. We have . . . um . . . shrimp, fresh caught this morning." She gestured to the fish laying on the table, trying to concentrate on the prices and what they were called. Not that she really understood. Her life right now was pretty boring.

She would just wake up and then sell fish for a few *hours* then fly back home and repeat the same thing. Nebula wished that she had some more adventure in her life. She wished that someone could just pop through the door, yelling at the top of their lungs, "WHEE ADVENTURE!"

"Well, do you?" The dragon asked, blinking and smiling a sharp-toothed smile. Nebula shook her head, trying to snap back into reality. She looked up at the dragon, furiously trying to figure out what she had said. *Ugh, Neb, seriously?! Are you seriously not listening to the one customer you have right now?!*

"Have what?" She said as politely as she could.

"Some sturgeon?" The dragon said with a laugh. "They're very rare. I've searched many a stall and never found even one." Nebula blinked. *Sturgeon?* She tried not to laugh. *Father's favorite fish is sturgeon! If we had any, we certainly wouldn't be selling it!* She shook her head, grinning.

"I'm sorry, but we only have one sturgeon in stock, and my father is probably eating it." The dragon laughed, a high, beautiful, genuine laugh.

"Does your father love sturgeon?" Nebula nodded. *Ugh, more side-chat from these folks. All they ever want to do is talk talk talk.*

"He loves them more than anything. It's his hatching day coming up, two days from now actually, and I want to get him something amazing." The SeaWing's eyes flickered, and she looked up thoughtfully.

"You know. I've heard that beyond the Circle of Isles, there is a HUGE sturgeon colony. You could easily catch a big one in no time." Nebula frowned.

"But my father *never* said to go outside the Circle." She said slowly, cautiously. It did sound pretty tempting, but she reminded herself of his stern voice, and how he would absolutely *murder* her, no matter how many sturgeon she brought back. But maybe he never ever needed to know . . . "He said that it is very dangerous." The dragon shrugged casually, though he eyes were weird and hard and her jaw was clenched.

"I've been there many a time, and there's nothing dangerous." The SeaWing's voice was still gentle and soothing, almost hypnotizing. Nebula forced herself to grin and adjust a salmon out of the reach of the sun, which was slowly climbing up to midday.

"Thank you for the recommendation." She said as sweetly as she could. The dragon smiled and suddenly picked up a basket of shrimp.

"I'll take this." Nebula nodded, opening her pouch and holding it out to the dragon.

"That will be seven sapphires." The dragon nodded and reached into her pouch, pulling out seven midnight blue circles of stones.

"I hope you don't mind I pay in Lapis Lazuli." The dragon said with a grin. Nebula shook her head, holding out her talon. The dragon dropped the lapis lazuli into her outstretched palm, and Nebula counted them one by one, until she was satisfied.

"Have a good day." The dragon walked away with a wave, and Nebula looked at the lapis for a moment before dropping it into her black leather pouch. If only she had looked up.

If only she had seen the "friendly" dragon slip into a small, dark alleyway, her glittering eyes watching Nebula was a cruel smirk.

## Chapter Three

The sun was just beginning to slip below the horizon when Nebula sold the last fish.

"I don't know how you do it." The MudWing said, shaking his head as Nebula packed up his white cod in a small piece of green cloth. She smiled up at him, blinking her large navy blue eyes at him. The MudWing gave her a knowing look, and she blushed slightly.

"Do what?" She asked, blinking at him again.

"Oh stop being modest, Neb." The MudWing rolled his close-set amber eyes. "It's no secret that you all have the best fish for miles around." Nebula felt a bit of red creeping up her face.

"Ugh, stop flattering me." She said, giving him the fish. "It will make my ego super big." The MudWing laughed, dropping a few sapphires onto Nebula's table.

"As if it isn't already."

"HEY!" Nebula shouted, throwing a fish at him. He ducked it with a yelp, watching it splatter on the ground. He looked at it for a moment, then shrugged, picking it up and popping it into his mouth. He chewed it for a moment, making a face, then turned back to her.

"What?!" He asked through a mouthful of fish, throwing up his talons with an *I'm INNOCENT* look. "It was a joke!" Nebula giggled a little bit, rolling up the last bit of cloth.

"Well it wasn't very funny!" The MudWing swallowed, then let out a belch. Nebula's nose wrinkled up. *Ugh, fish.* She wrinkled up her snout, trying not to laugh. *Seems a bit hypocritical.* She said to herself. *Since you're . . . you know, SELLING fish.*

"Come on now Nebula." He laughed a hearty, booming laugh. "You know it was funny." Nebula sighed.

"Ok ok ok ok, I'll admit it for ONE MORE lapis." The MudWing flicked his tongue at her.

"Not on your life, you stinker." He said affectionately. Nebula smiled, ducking her head below the table, pretending to pick up a cloth that fell on the ground. When she popped back up, her face the normal color, he was gone. Nebula felt an odd bit of sadness, which was kind of ridiculous, since she only saw him around once a month. Nebula sighed, shaking her head and putting a single claw on the table.

She looked down and spotted it. Her sharp claws dug into the wood viciously, causing huge grooves in the wood, and tiny splinters to shoot every which way.. Laying on top of the table, was a small note, the edges of the paper yellowed and crinkled, the handwriting quick and messy, but still legible. Holding it down was a small wooden dragon, her claws outstretched, wings spread wide, and her tail lashing. In the place of her eyes were two small sapphires, Nebula looked closer. No, not sapphires. Lapis Lazuli. The statue was on top of the note, holding it down.

Nebula leaned over to read the note, her pulse jumping up until her head was pounding. The note read, *We'll be seeing you soon, water dragon.*

The rest of the day in market passed in kind of a blur. Nebula couldn't stop thinking about the wooden dragon, and the note.

Nebula wasn't sure why she was so scared. As she swam back to her house, her heart pounding, her claws gripping the dragon so tightly her knuckles were white, she shook her head.

It was probably some sort of joke.

Maybe it was from that MudWing. He must have left it to her when she bent down to "grab" the cloth. Yes, that was probably it. Not some strange dragon.

Not some evil dragon. NOPE THIS WAS TOTALLY COMPLETELY ONE HUNDRED PERCENT NORMAL. The water whipped past Nebula's wings as she shot into another, faster current. That was probably it. But somehow, it didn't feel like the right answer.

Nebula shook from horns to tail, regretting it as she nearly lost the current. No, she would not start this again. She would not freak out her father so that they had to move. Again.

When all she had done was mention that she saw a few dragons flying around, clutching spears! THAT WAS IT WHY HAD THEY NEEDED TO MOVE THEIR ENTIRE LIFE??