Chapter Text
When the Pale king, who was now going by his real name, Idarius, heard that a Wyrm had been spotted outside of Dirtmouth he’d thought for certain that his mother had tracked him down. She was here to kill him and his children, and take this land for herself surely. Here to slay the child she had neglected for being small, born prematurely, and ill.
Yet, when Hornet lead him to the Wyrm, he was shocked, not only by the fact that this Wyrm was clearly a baby, framed by the thick fur and externally small body, no larger than the length of the Pale King’s arm, but also by the fact that this tiny Wyrm was awfully familiar.
Idarius stared, eyes wide in shock, “That.....that’s me....” they were a good 19 feet away from the tiny babe, but he recognized those pale scales and that slightly blue fur.
“I’m sorry, what?” Hornet asked
”How?” He was more talking to himself than anyone around him, the little Wyrm must’ve hear the voices, or caught the scent, as they began to slither over to where the two bugs were.
They were both looking down at the little one now, it was clear that this baby Wyrm was starved, and hurt, dried blood caked their body. The little one had no eyes, it was navigating through smell, sound, and touch. They lifted their little head, searching for a scent, so it had found them through sound.
They hissed, moving away from the two, it was too small, to weak to fight them, so the little one opted to get away. They were still fast.
It was Hornet who acted, crouching down and holding out a hand, “Hey there...” the little Wyrm hissed, “It’s okay. We’re not gonna hurt you.” The little one wasn’t buying it.
They both smelled like Wyrms, the red one less so than the other, but they were adults! Adult Wyrms were always bad news.
”Are you hungry?” She asked, she went into the pocket in her cloak and pulled out some dried meat, holding it out for the little one, “I have food.”
That got the little one’s attention, they were curious, the adults weren’t hurting them? And the red one made themself small, and offered food? They inched closer, making sure to sniff the air, they didn’t smell diseased meat, so they weren’t trying to poison them. Surely this was some trap.
But they are hungry, and won’t make it without some kind of help, they are still bleeding after all. The little Wyrm moved closer and closer, cautious, and accepted the offered meat. But not without staring the two adults down first.
Hornet went to pick the little one up, and they chirped out in pain, and surprise.
”I-it’s alright.” Idarius spike, having removed himself from his shock.
The pale one understood them, but the red one didn’t. Well, the pale one did smell more like a Wyrm than the other, so they guessed it made sense.
They chirped at him.
”We’re friends, we’re going to help.” He said
Hornet looked at him, “So are we going to take them home? Or...”
“We...don’t have much of a choice at this point.” He said
Hornet nodded, pulling the little Wyrm closer to her, and turned to head towards the palace, her father not far behind.
They little Wyrm supposed that maybe this wouldn’t be a bad thing.