Chapter Text
Shrike couldn’t curb his anxiety. If this were a normal egg they could have just put it in the hatchery, instead they were in a stupid mountain clearing in the middle of the night! He sighed and looked at his lover, smiling by his side under the two full moons as she perfected the small nest with their silvery red egg. He wished he could be as calm as her. Dreamspeaker was perfection compared to any skywing, her eyes were as blue as the sea and her scales were as dark as the night.
“Come on Shrike, as far as that hideous queen is aware you're violently sick in bed right now!” Dreamspeaker grinned, pulling the red skywing into a hug. Don’t call my queen hideous, Shrike snarled to himself.
“She’s furious that her top general is sick… I'm just scared for their future,” Shrike sighed, running his talons over the egg.
“We can only hope for a better future for hybrids,” She smiled reassuringly, resting her head on the skywing.
“We can hope that he isn’t forced into the arena,” Shrike snarled under his breath, resting his head atop the nightwing. “Are you sure it's tonight?”
“Of course I do, it's a mothers instinct!” the nightwing jeered, looking up at Shrike with a pout. “But I am more than a little concerned on why it turned silver, I've never seen that happen before,”
“Theres nothing wrong with it,” Shrike growled, releasing his hug of Dream.
“I- it's because it wasn’t in that horrid hatchery on the volcano, maybe it's how nightwing eggs are supposed to look” She sighed, pulling away from Shrike.
“How am I supposed to know!?” Shrike growled, beginning to pace around. It's bad enough his child would be a hybrid, he wouldn’t last a day on this stupid continent if there was anything else wrong with him!
“Quit pacing around! I want them to see both of us when it hatches,” Dreamspeaker demanded, raising her head above Shrike. Shrike rolled his eyes and returned to her side.
“This is stupid, a skywing egg would hatch by now,” Shrike protested, lowering his head to the level of the egg.
“It isn't much of a skywing egg is it?-” Dreamspeaker taunted. Chrckk, the egg shifted.
“It's starting!” Dreamspeaker cheered, hugging Shrike tightly. The two dragons watched curiously, crhrk-krk the egg cracked.
“Should we help it?” Shrike said, reaching his talon out to the egg.
“No, our eggs tend to be thicker,” She said without taking her eyes off it. Shrike anxiously wrapped his tail around Dreamspeakers, tightly pulling it in a feeble attempt to ease his nerves. Tap after tap, crack after crack, the hatchlings' beak finally broke through. The couple watched in excitement as the egg shattered revealing a small dark red hatchling, staring up at the moons in wonder. The hatchling was PERFECT! It had two inky black eyes, small black horns, and a cute blunt snout like its mother!
“He’s perfect,” Dreamspeaker smiled softly, picking the hatchling up as it quickly fell asleep against her chest.
“What do we name him?” Shrike grinned, brushing his talons against its head.
“I was thinking Scrollwyrm?” Dreamspeaker giggled, tapping the hatchlings snout.
“That's a horrible name! He needs to be fierce like his father! Why don’t we name him Blooddrinker or Throatslicer? That sounds nightwingy!” Shrike griped, wincing at the suggestion.
“It's a nightwing tradition for the mother to name it! Scrollwyrm is a good name!” Dreamspeaker pouted, pulling the hatchling away from Shrike. “...What about Lifeender? We can call him Life but his name will still be fiercesome!”
“Fine,” Shrike relented, “Only because it’ll make you happy,” He smiled as they rested the tops of their heads against each other. He reached his arms out to Dreamspeaker, cradling the hatching as he got a good look at him. Lifeender…
“Are the silver tear scales normal?” Shrike curiously said, looking up at Dreamspeaker.
“I don’t know, It sounds familiar but I don’t know why,” She faltered.
“It doesn't matter, he's my son and I'll always love him.” Shrike vowed, looking at the hatchling, who was staring as amazed at Shrike as he was with the moons. I love you, I'm so proud of you, Shrike thought. The red hatchling extended its arms out towards Shrike, grabbing his face curiously.
“Awwww he loves you!” Dreamspeaker cooed, wrapping her wing around Shrike. Shrike rested his head on Dreamspeaker, and they both held the hatchling. For the first time since he met Dreamspeaker he didn’t feel anxious, he didn’t worry about Queen Scarlet, he didn’t worry about losing his friends, he didn’t worry about anything other than keeping this hatchling safe. He rested his head against Lifeender, I'll keep you safe, you won’t ever have to worry about anything, He promised.