Chapter Text
Moonlight filtered down to the thick canopies of the kelp kingdom. all was quiet as kelp from all directions swayed in union: ever so peaceful and calm… or so Algae thought. As she slithered through the endless kelp, swift and silently, almost blending into it, while being determined to get to her egg as fast as possible. Pushing away a few strands of kelp out of her face, she bumped into something or well, someone.
Algae was push back a bit and she looked up within a blink of an eye, only to be relieved that it was a brown nightwatcher with a darker sail and frills that only got darker, one that she knew fairly well.
“Hello Algae, didn’t think you were up this late,” her friend flashed his yellow scales.
“Well, my egg is hatching today, if you forgot that Bull.” she flashed her pale green ones Back as an explanation, somewhat lying about the fact the egg was not her’s, but a stray.
Bull reacted immediately, as he tilted his head to the left; eyes casted downwards, “Oh, sorry, I did.”
That isn’t anything new, Bull always forgets stuff that aren’t interesting to him or it just slips his mind. “I know.” she softly flashed, ‘you always do’ the conversation was making her more and more agitated and impatient by the seconds, Bull noticing her fidgeting and expression that said ’get this over with’, and stared straight up at her and awkwardly flashed, “um, you should probably get going.” after a long moment of silence, he finally flashed,“you’ll miss the hatching.” ‘Like I didn’t know that’ she wanted to flash that, but a single “yeah.” came from her instead.
Algae twisted to her left, back now facing Bull with the water around her feeling unnaturally heavy and thick, as she bolted away from Bull and towards her destination. The Kelp kingdom was plain and uninteresting to any dragon who didn’t grew up in it: missing all the little fishes hiding within the forever long and vast kelp, the occasional green sea turtle that’s easy to miss, a rare cuttlefish coming out of its borrow, two comedenti swam past her, brushing lightly against her scales in the process and the bedding and dens (that were scattered all over the place like dots) of tired kelpwings coming back from work or the excited, yet nervous new parents.
‘That will the me soon’ Algae thought, scales tingling with excitement, impatience and a hint of nervousness as she imagine that being her: waiting for her tiny newborn dragonet clawing their way out of their eggshell, eager to see the outside world and their mother. She frowned at that last bit, her partner: Starfish , broke up with her after an argument about keeping or not keeping the stray, lone egg. It wasn’t either of their faults; she wanted to keep the egg and raise the dragonet inside, he didn’t, and braking up was probably the best decision, didn’t mean it didn’t hurt though. either he had or hadn’t didn’t mattered right now, what did was getting to the egg before it began hatching.
Gliding smoothly though the water, like butter, Algae noticed something off, something red. Worried, she dived towards the seafloor, barely touching the sand. As she got closer the kelp roots, she spotted the problem, Red Sea urchins! Staggering back, eyes wide open, she flashed so bright in horror and shock that any dragon would’ve seen her. ‘why’s there so MANY?! And right near MY den and egg!?’,filled with terror and panic, as if the urchins were nibbling on her frill and sail. Recklessly and making as much noise as possible, she rushed as fast as possible to her egg, shoving kelp violently out of her way with nothing to hear but her own non-stop rapid heartbeats. When she got there, rising up the get a better view, she froze.
Everything went stock-still: The kelp, the fishes , the water, the small, quiet sounds. Everything.
It was like the she was being crushed by rocks and teeth. It was like the world around her suddenly stopped. It was like Dry, hot sand was poured down her throat
All because a smaller-than-average greenish-yellow egg with sun yellow dots had cracks in it; not in the good way. Red that came from the egg, swirled upwards, making little clouds of muted red and maroon.’no,no,no,nonononono. NO!’ if Algae could scream right now she would, as tears try to fall down: only to become bubbles and rise.
Algae plummeted in despair, right on top on the egg and curling over it in grief. Soft sobs racked her body,(or as much as a dragon underwater could cry, much less sob)as so, so many emotions went through her: anger, sadness, horror, pain, emptiness, fear, but one stood up the most was; Denial.
it took what seemed like an eternity, to stop crying, to get up a bit and to look at the egg. She didn’t want to believe it, she really didn’t. she wanted to wake up and see a runty, little, dragonet floating around in a circle clumsily, and convince herself it was a nightmare, But she couldn’t. Because it wasn’t, it was real.
The fact this dragonet was minutes, if not seconds away from hatching, made the situation worse. A dragonet who was inch’s from being able to see, explore and play in this world, hammered the pain and sorrow farther. If only she had been here sooner, if only she haven’t been delayed by talking the bull, if only she didn’t came home so late. if only….
It hurt to accept it, to face the truth, to just lay there and cry and be empty. But she had to face it now, or she’ll be stuck here forever(just for now).
The egg and dragonet was DEAD