Bigwings

Chapter Nine

AUBURN

He felt immensely proud at having Queen Cockatiel's beloved daughter dead. Yes, he hadn't been the killer, but at least she was dead! That was what mattered.

They emerged from the room. Cockatiel was on her throne, her scales partially her lavender color. However, next to the lavender and yellow, there were red underscales and a black snout.

"Killers," she hissed, spreading her wings as far as they would go. "Killers of the heir to the RainWing throne. How dare you behave this way!" "WAIT!" Earth screamed. "PLEASE, DON'T KILL MY BROTHERS AND SISTER! THEY DID NOT KILL VINE! IT WAS GRAPEFRUIT! PLEASE, PUNISH HER AND LET US GO!" Fury radiated from Cockatiel's body. More red and black billowed up in her scales.

"No!" Soil protested. "Don't kill Grapefruit! Vine randomly attacked us! That wasn't fair!" "What isn't fair, MudWing," Cockatiel snarled, "Is that you are behaving like you have the right to give orders. Who is the queen here? You or me?" "Let's leave," Auburn heard Sienna whisper to Earth. "No," Auburn hissed back, "We have to kill her." 

Earth flexed his claws, an unsure expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he said, "But you treated me terribly. You were unfair to many of the subjects in your kingdom. I think Rosebush would make a much better queen than you or Vine." Cockatiel snorted. "That burnt-winged, lame excuse for a dragon? No, thank you. I'd rather have some more eggs." "Too bad," Earth said in a stronger, scarier voice, his facial expression changing abruptly, "Because you'll never get that chance."

Using the agility he learned from growing up with the RainWings, the MudWing leaped at the face of the RainWing queen. She shrieked, but his claws were already rising to her throat. He slit it, and Cockatiel toppled to the ground, all color washing away from her scales. She was dead. 

"Yes!" Grapefruit cried. Auburn was shocked to see her fold into Soil, her scales turning bright pink as if she wasn't even trying to fight them. What was even more shocking was the fact that Soil was smiling and hugging her back, as if he had found all the treasure in the world. Leaf and Sienna had their wings wrapped around each other, their tails twined together. 

"So," Earth said, patting Auburn with one of his talons, "I see some of us don't want to leave." Auburn laughed. "Yeah," he said, looking up at his true bigwings with admiration. "I can't believe you killed Cockatiel. That was awesome." Earth chuckled. "Yes," he said. "I was always afraid of killing. But...I think that that was necessary." "Understatement of the century," Auburn said. 

"I think we need to decide all together what's going to happen next," said Earth, gesturing Sienna, Leaf, Soil, and Grapefruit. "Yup," Auburn said. "I personally think the two of us should leave and find some unsibs to adopt." "Great idea," Earth agreed. "I read about unsibs. Poor dragons! Sometimes their sibs are taken away by disease, sometimes by some idiot killer...we'll find some and we will take great care of them, little brother." "Yes," said Auburn, edging closer to his brother and the heat radiating from him. "I'm glad that you're my bigwings." Earth patted Auburn's tail with his own. "I'm proud to be your bigwings," he said with a toothy smile that made Auburn's day a whole lot better.

"Okay! Let's gather together," Earth said in the bossy voice Auburn remembered Soil using sometimes. Everyone, including Grapefruit and Leaf, gathered in a semicircle. "Alright," Earth said. "Auburn and I have formulated a plan for the future. He and I will go to the Mud Kingdom and find all the unsibs we can to make a nice, large troop. Sienna and Soil, you two can stay here and...unfold your relationships with Leaf and Grapefruit further. Sounds good?" Sienna and Soil nodded. "I don't want to leave," said Soil, "I love Grapefruit too much. But I swear that we will visit--right, Sienna?" "Yeah," Sienna said. "Us, too," Leaf interjected. "Grapefruit and I, I mean. I would love to see the Mud Kingdom, and I'm sure Grapefruit does, too." Grapefruit nodded.

"Just stay in the same spot that we always did, okay?" Sienna said to Auburn. "Yes," said Auburn. "We won't migrate anywhere. Once we've found some unsibs, we'll settle down there." "Okay, family," Soil said with a grin, "Time for hugs!" Everyone laughed as Earth threw his larger wings around his sibs and the two RainWings. They were squeezed into a tight hug, and a huge mixup of smells was thrown into Auburn's face.

Happiness pulsed through his body. Okay, he said to himself, I have my bigwings. I'll have some new sibs soon. I'll see the Mud Kingdom again. 

I have everything I've ever wanted. 

----

A/N

Alright! So, Cockatiel is dead. Earth has had a major personality change. I'm sorry that this was a shorter story, but you can't just live off of long stories all the time. Sometimes you feel like something shorter!

The next thing I will be making is my Winterwatcher story. Stay tuned for that!

Enjoy the epilogue, too!

-Blizzard