Chapter Text
She was afraid.
Afraid for her egg, what her mother might do to it.
The SkyWing hurried along, her wings beating faster as she strove to get to her destination.
I just have to hide it somewhere, she thought. I'll come back for it tomorrow morning. She swooped towards the ground, past jagged mountain peaks that, in the dark and foggy night, looked like menacing claws reaching out to grab her and her precious cargo.
She landed on soft grass, looking for somewhere to temporarily hide her unhatched dragonet. The ground was immediately ruled out as an option, even if she hid it in a bush, some animal would come and find her egg. So that left- She swept her gaze upwards, to the branches of a particularly tall tree. The curling limbs would be perfect to hide her egg, if she gathered some leaves to better camouflage it.
She flew up into the tree, her grip on the egg tight. She gingerly set her egg down in the space between two branches. When it didn't fall, she breathed a sigh of relief and descended, picking up leaves from the ground and covering the egg with them. As she worked, her thoughts wandered. Her mother had started to become more quiet and cruel lately, looking at her daughter with a sly grin, as though she knew something she didn't.
It scared her.
It had driven her to take her egg, something her mother didn't know about, and bring it outside, the only place it would be safe. Safer than being around her mother, at least.
She hesitated to place the last of the leaves, her talons hovering indecisively over her egg. She didn't want to leave it here, all alone, in this cold weather.
It's for the best, she reminded herself firmly as she gave the egg a tender caress before she covered the last bit with leaves.
She took off, flying back to her home, tears welling up in her eyes. It's only a few hours before you see the egg again, quit moping about it! she mentally chided herself. She did look back once, though, to see her lonely egg slowly fading into the distance. I'll be back, she promised it. After all, It's not like I'll suddenly disappear into thin air.
The SkyWing vanished into the foreboding fog, determined to keep her promise.
The next day, though, she didn't come back.
The egg sat there, innocent to any thought that its mother had left it stranded in the mountains.
There, it waited. And waited. And waited...
Several days had passed since its mother had hidden it in the tree. Its leaf cover started to come off, exposing it to the world.
A crow suddenly swooped down out of nowhere, alighting on the branch next to the egg. It tilted its head to look at the egg with its beady black eyes curiously. This was food! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner by the size of it. The crow eyed the egg hungrily, hopping onto the interlinked branches supporting it. It crept forwards, beak starting to part. It would have to peck through it, the crow decided. It drew its head back, ready to impale the egg, when a sudden peal of thunder made the crow jump into the air, cawing in distress. It looked up.
Dark, heavy storm clouds were gathering in the sky, their bellies laden with water and electricity. The wind started to pick up, too, and the crow had to dig its feet into the wood below it to prevent itself from being blown away.
This wasn't worth it! The crow threw itself into the air, searching for a location with better shelter. The egg would still be there when the storm had passed, it reasoned. It flew off, impatient with its food being withdrawn from it.
Just then, a particularly violent gust of wind blow the last bits of leaves off of the egg, and rain began to fall. Not a light drizzle. It was chaotic. Shrieking gales whipped past, the tips of trees breaking off in the furious wind. The rain fell heavily, fist-sized drops of water pummeling the ground. And the lightning! Spears of energy struck nearby trees, reducing them to blackened columns, husks of their former selves.
The egg, oblivious to it all, rocked back and forth gently in the wind.
The sky, not merciful, noticed. Just like flicking an ant off of a honey jar, it sent down a bolt of lightning, its sides crackling with a nimbus of electricity, to terminate the helpless dragonet. The first finger of electricity brushed the surface of the egg, latching on and forcing through tremendous amounts of energy into the dragonet inside. The spear connected, channeling energy and causing the egg to smoke and shake violently.
The pulse of the dragonet's heartbeat started to falter, but the lightning didn't stop. Instead, it redoubled its efforts to exterminate the egg, the energy output increasing dramatically. The heartbeat kicked back, doubling-no, tripling in speed, pounding away like a crazed percussionist's drumsticks.
It abruptly stopped, plunging the nearby surroundings in darkness. A clap of thunder punctuated the end of the lightning bolt's existence. The egg had stopped moving, and its regular plain red had been shot through with golden streaks that thrummed with energy. The rain tapered off into a sprinkle, and the wind calmed down into a gentle breeze. The dragonet inside would never know what had just happened, and no one would have to tell him.
Hours later, wingbeats were heard and voices gained volume.
"You see all of this? I reckon it was all caused by that massive storm last night."
"No way! This looks like a giant dragonet came through in a temper tantrum, there's no way that a storm did this." A different voice said incredulously.
"Well, it was the Brightest Night yesterday, maybe that had something to do with it." The first voice, sounding hushed, as if there were other dragons listening in. "The Dragonets of Destiny hatched, surely that has to be why that storm happened."
"I can't wait for another six years, I've lost way too many good friends." The voice cracked with sadness.
Both SkyWings fell silent, thinking of who they had lost in the war.
"May the Great Dragon In The Sky watch over them," One murmured.
They both began flying around again after a moment of silence to respect their fallen comrades.
"I swear, I dropped it right here!" The second voice growled.
"If you didn't keep losing your necklace, maybe we wouldn't be looking for it right now." The first voice said with a hint of amusement. "Let's split up, statistically we'll have a better chance of finding it."
Both dragons parted ways, each searching for the second SkyWing's necklace. The second SkyWing came closer to the egg, grumbling as she picked through the tree branches of a different tree. She sighed, and turned towards the tree with the egg in it. She flew higher, her bored gaze raking the branches. When she got to the top, her eyes grew wide.
"Hey! Cloud! Get over here!" She hollered.
The male SkyWing flew over, holding something in his talons. "Hey, uh, found your necklace, but it's a bit-"
"Never mind that, look what I found!" She said, gesturing towards the egg.
"Wh-HUH?! An egg? Out here?? Where's its mother? She must be so worried! Wait, what are you doing?"
The female picked up the egg. "Cloud, you idiot. Obviously its mother doesn't care about it if she left it right before a storm in plain sight."
After a moment of uncertainty, Cloud nodded. "Of course. It makes sense to take the egg with you, if its mother doesn't want it."
"I was actually thinking of asking around whose it was, but you made me realize something. If we give it back to the mother, she might try to finish the job she started, as sad as that sounds. It'll be better if I care for it. That's the only option, other than get rid of it, and I don't think my conscience could take that blow." The other dragon said thoughtfully.
"Y-you know, it'll raise less questions if we-" Cloud suddenly stuttered.
"If we what?" The other dragon asked, a brow ridge raised.
"If-If we-uh, shoot. How do I say this?" Cloud said, scratching the back of his head nervously. He seemed to be unable to look directly at the female.
Her impatience growing, she snapped at him. "Just get it out already! If we what?"
"If we get together!" Cloud blurted out. "You know, it'll raise a lot less questions because other dragons will think that it's our egg because they'll think we-" He cut himself off, blushing furiously.
"Is that your way of asking me if I want to date you?" The female asked, surprised.
"Ye-ess?" He responded, talons on his face.
"Cloud-" She started.
"It's okay if you don't want to, just a suggestion!" Cloud said quickly.
"-I was waiting so long for you to say that!" The other dragon shrieked.
"I knew that you would say- wait, what?" Cloud said, shocked.
"Of course! You don't have any idea how long I've been throwing hints at you!" She set the egg down, delighted.
"You were throwing hints at me?" Cloud said, confused at what she said. "Since when?"
"Since we met, silly! Wait-You didn't notice?" The SkyWing replied, deflating.
"Well, you were the first female I talked to, and, uh-you know me, I can't really catch a hint!" Cloud said hurriedly. "But I've liked you ever since we met! Did you not notice how nervous I am around you?"
"No, I just thought you were clumsy. But you've liked me since we were dragonets? Why?" The other dragon asked, starting to cheer up again.
"Well, you're-uh-very pretty, and you were always nice to me when we met." Cloud stumbled through the words, twining his tail around his talons and looking down. "SHOOT! THE EGG!" He yelled suddenly, pointing.
A snake had started to swallow the egg, and when both dragons stared at it, horrified, it tried to slither away. Both SkyWings dove for the egg, ending up in a tangle of limbs, including the snake.
Cloud ended up on top of her, wrestling the egg out of the snake's mouth. As he worked, she noticed his muscles rippling under his orange scales. A deep red flush appeared on her face as Cloud threw the snake far into the trees. He looked down and noticed her underneath him.
"Oh! Sorry!" He scrambled off of her, the female SkyWing's talons covering her snout while coughing very awkwardly. He grabbed her by the shoulders, and she squeaked in surprise, but he just set her upright and began dusting her off.
"Sorry about that," Cloud apologized after he was done. "Wait, why is your snout-"
"Cloud-we need to name the egg." She said, changing the subject away from her blushing.
"Oh." Cloud sat back. "Yeah. Yes, we should do that."
"What about Sky?" He asked.
"No, that's a little too bland." She responded. They both thought for a while, and the female thought up another name.
"How about Stormbringer?" She suggested.
"I like it. Sounds fierce, like my name." Cloud said.
"You're literally named after a fluffy thing in the sky." She pointed out. "I think Stormbringer sounds better than that."
He laughed. "All right, you win. His name is Stormbringer, I guess."
"Who said that she's going to be a he?" She inquired.
"I can just tell." Cloud said. "By using my extremely vast intellect, of course."
"I can see that, your head is huge!" The female joked.
"It's not that big," Cloud said, checking the size of his head in a pool of water. "Right?"
"No, it's just as big as your brain." She said, tapping the back of his skull. "Which is definitely massive, as you say."
While he was looking at his reflection, the other SkyWing hugged the egg closer. "Your name is Stormbringer, little one, and I love you."
Cloud came over to her again. "I still don't think my head is that big," He said.
She smiled.