Feels Like Home

*Title taken from the Jex song 'Where We Started'*

Characters: Iceberg, Storm, Shadow

Iceberg had been preparing for a while, and now the only thing left for her to do was actually tell her parents. Tell them that she wasn’t a boy, and hope that they would accept it. She could still live up to their expectations, she just wanted them to know that she was their daughter.

She heard talonsteps approaching quickly, and poked her head out of her hammock. Her mother slammed the door open, fuming. Iceberg was silent as she watched Storm rip the small picture of their family off the wall, shredding it.

“That lying, cheating, snake!” Storm growled, tearing the drawing more with each word. Iceberg had never seen her mother this angry before, and knew something had gone very wrong. This was probably the wrong time to come out, she decided.

“Mom?” Iceberg asked, and Storm’s eyes snapped to her. The look on her face told Iceberg she hadn’t realized the dragonet was there.

“Oh. Drift. I didn’t think you’d be back yet.” Storm said, trying to force a smile. Iceberg tried to ignore the bad feeling her name always gave her.

“Where’s-” Iceberg didn’t have a chance to finish her question before Storm cut her off.

“Your father,” Storm spat, “Isn’t welcome in this family anymore.” Iceberg’s eyes widened.

“Why?” What had her dad done that was bad enough for Storm to be this angry?

“I’ll explain when you’re older. Just… stay away from him, okay?” Storm said, and Iceberg nodded slowly. Her family. It was gone now. Just like that.

It wasn't that Iceberg was scared of anything in the woods, she would just rather stay very far away from them. But Shadow had said she wanted to find out what had happened to Genesis, and Iceberg was not about to let her girlfriend go into the creepy forest on her own.

“Oh, moons.” Shadow gasped, and Iceberg hurried over to her side. “Is that… blood?” Iceberg felt a bit sick, but she nodded. The dark stains on the ground were definitely IceWing blood, which meant there was only one dragon it could have come from. Sheer, the only other IceWing on the island. Iceberg had never really liked the older dragon, but she didn’t want them to be hurt, or worse.

“Yeah. I… I think it’s Sheer’s.” Iceberg said. “I know it’s not mine, and I don’t think there are any other IceWings or IceWing hybrids on Fate.” Shadow stepped closer to her, clearly nervous. Iceberg tucked a wing around her and pulled out her spear, just in case they got attacked. Iceberg could feel Shadow’s heartbeat racing, and she briefly wanted to tell the NightWing to go back to town, but she knew that would just worry Shadow more.

“We should look for her.” Shadow said after a few minutes, and Iceberg nodded. She stepped away from Shadow, looking around cautiously. Iceberg had no idea what could have attacked Sheer, and she didn’t want to be caught by surprise. Shadow was being quiet as well, glancing around.

It didn’t take them long to find Sheer, unfortunately. Their body wasn’t very far from where Shadow had found the blood, and they were very dead.

“What happened to her?” Shadow said, her voice quiet. Iceberg had no idea how to respond. Looking around, she realized that Sheer wasn’t the only one who’d been injured. There had been a fight here, and Sheer hadn’t been the only IceWing.

“I guess they were attacked.” Iceberg said. She really wanted to run home, to forget about this whole thing, but she couldn’t. The best option would be to report this back to Bronze, and let her figure it out.