Way Back Home

Hey, peeps, the nerd's back with another story that she has no business writing with the last one still unfinished, but that's not important right now. Anyway, this is that story about Rosy's brother I mentioned that one time.

*Also, quick thanks to MoonIvy for giving me the idea of him having been taken by Ciphers, since I hadn't really thought of who he was taken by before then and that sounded really good to me.*

**Prologue - Omega Cipher's PoV**

Omega Cipher landed outside the SilkWing Metamorphosis Center, followed by his daughter, Checker, his son, Morse, and his nephew, Beau. Today was the first day in a long time in which he'd felt confident that things would go his way, because today was the first day of his master plan for revenge against his family. He'd been mistreated all his life, especially by his brother, Alpha, but, from this day forward, he would be the one at the top of the food chain because today, he would begin to build his army.

This was the first stop in his journey to collect dragons from each tribe to be his team to stand up against his family, the place he thought would be the easiest to get a dragonet from, since the dragons here were all either in metamorphosis or were in too much of a trance to fight.

"Come along, Dragonets, let's pick up your brother from his metamorphosis," he said, smiling at a passing group of LeafWings and SilkWings, trying to look like a father looking forward to seeing his dragonet again after a long time apart instead of like someone who was about to make it so that another set of parents would have to spend an even longer time away from their dragonet. He would make sure this plan worked. It had to work. He would not allow his cover to be blown.

He walked into the Center, walking at the pace at which he'd seen other SilkWings enter the building with his head slightly raised, trying to keep up the proud parent act.

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Dad? It doesn't feel right. How would you feel if someone had stolen me or Morse?" Checker asked, looking up at her father with an extremely guilty expression. She'd been the hardest to convince of this plan, and it was obvious that she still wasn't convinced they were doing the right thing. But, how could ripping a dragonet away from their family ever be the right thing to do?

"I'm absolutely certain we should be doing this. I've thought over this plan a million times and I've never seen it going wrong. Besides, if either of you had been taken for a good reason, which this is, as long as that had been explained to me, I would have been fine with it," he replied, sounding completely sure of himself.

She sighed, walking with her head down, facing the ground that so many SilkWing parents and dragonets had walked over, together. The ground where, in a short matter of time, a set of parents would walk in and then walk out, missing one of their dragonets, if not their only dragonet. There had to be a better way to get her father's plan to work.

Omega stepped out into the chamber where the cocoons were built and walked around the room slowly, carefully examining each silk structure carefully to try to see what the dragons inside looked like. Finally, after walking around the chamber multiple times, he ended up next to a relatively large cocoon located next to a second, slightly smaller one.

"This one," he said, looking over at Checker, Morse, and Beau, who were waiting by the exit, "This will be the first soldier in our army. Now get over here and help me teleport it to the house."

They stepped forwards, Checker dragging her feet and staring guiltily at the fround, Morse walking with a slight bounce to his step, excited to help his father, and Beau striding confidentally forwards.

The Ciphers joined talons and, in a few moments, a gray glow surrounded the cocoon and then it disappeared from the room, leaving a blank space where it had once sat.

With that taken care of, the group left the building, nodding in greeting to a group of SilkWings, seemingly a mother, a father, and a young dragonet, who were heading inside. The Ciphers walked towards town, acting as though everything was fine and like they hadn't just done something horrible, keeping up the act even as anguished cries began to rise from The Metamorphosis Center.

**Chapter 1 - Grayling's PoV**

*A few hours later...*

Grayling emerged from his cocoon, blinking to adjust to being awake after so much time spent asleep. Once his eyes had adjusted, he gasped slightly in surprise. He wasn't in The Metamorphosis Center anymore. In fact, he didn't know where he was anymore. *Where am I? How did I get here? Where's Rosy? Where's my family? How could this have happened?!*

He heard footsteps coming to the door and breathed a sigh of relief. That was probably someone coming to get him. He probably wasn't lost at all, just confused after so much time in the daze of metamorphosis. However, his relief was short lived, as when the door finally opened, the face that greeted him was that of a young NightWing/IceWing hybrid that he'd never seen before.

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's my family?" he asked, trying to keep the panic and sadness out of his voice, even though he was certain that his desperation for answers to his questions was clearly visible on his face.

She looked at him, her startling white-gray eyes filled with guilt and sadness. "I'm Checker, but that's the only question I've been permitted to answer at this time. I'm only here to make sure you're awake and alright and to give you this." She handed him a small tray with some juice, an apple, a couple pieces of bread, and a dish of honey. She then turned to leave the room, not able to stand having to look at the gloomy room and the sad dragonet it held prisoner much longer.

"Wait! I can't stay here! I have to go home! I have to return to my family! I promised my sibling I'd be there when their egg hatched, if I was out of my metamorphosis!" he said, his voice cracking slightly as his emotions took over. He'd been waiting to meet his younger sibling for over a year, constantly checking to see if they'd started to hatch yet and reading them stories almost every night. He couldn't bear the thought that he'd miss it. He began to tear up at the very idea of it.

A deeply guilty look took over Checker's face, though she didn't turn around to let him see it. She couldn't show him any sign of anything that could be considered weakness, he might use that against her. Instead, she just walked out of the room without a response and locked the door, breathing a sigh of relief.

**Chapter 2 - Checker Cipher's PoV**

*This is wrong. I know it's wrong, so why can't I make myself do something about it? Change doesn't happen by itself, it needs someone to make it happen. Maybe I should just try to stand up to my father...*

Checker sighed as soon as she'd shut and locked the door, hating that she had to act so rude to the dragonet. She felt so bad, especially after what he'd said about his younger sibling being about to hatch.

Obviously, her guilt showed on her face, since she was soon snapped out of her thoughts by her brother's voice saying, "You look upset, Checker, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Morse. I'm fine. Everything's fine," she said, hoping her words didn't sound as forceful as they were. She smiled to try to add to the believability of her words, though she felt like the smile just made it seem more like a lie.

He frowned, looking concerned. "You can tell me if there's something wrong, Sis. You've seemed so upset since Dad started talking about his plan."

"It's nothing. I guess I just feel a little guilty about the SilkWing..." she said, looking sadly down at the ground. *Except, I'm not guessing and it's a lot more than a little.*

"Don't feel guilty!" he said, smiling brightly at his sister, "We're helping our dad get respect in the family! Nobody would dare question someone with an army behind them, which he'll have as soon as we finish our mission!"

"Yeah, I guess that's true," she said, trying to sound a little more cheeful, even though she didn't see what was good about it. She'd heard about Ciphers going completely insane. What if her dad building an army was just the first step to that?

"It is true and over time, you'll start to see that. Soon, you'll stop feeling bad about it at all," Morse said confidently.

"Yeah, I guess I just need time..." she said, "Thanks for talking to me."

"You're welcome, Sis. Feel free to talk to me whenever you need to," he replied, smiling at his sister again before walking away towards his room.

She sighed again, glancing over her shoulder at the dark room with the SilkWing dragonet trapped inside before walking away towards her own room, her head down and her tail dragging slightly.

Not sure how I want to continue this just yet, but I know it will be continued with a little time. I'll probably work on a few other projects and then come back to this when decisions have been made.