Short Stories

Exposed

He should have known it would end up this way. How could he have possibly thought that he could do it? Was he so stupid to have believed he could do the impossible? Did he honestly believe that he could leave his home, keep up his disguise, fight against all odds, and still win?

Or maybe he had known all along. Maybe he always knew that things would happen this way, it's really the only logical solution. He was designed to think tactically, to estimate odds and probability; so how, HOW could something like this happen?

Nonetheless, there Horus stood in front of the mudwing he knew so well, but who seemed so foreign. He had often seen Gator's face flushed or nervous or even scared on some occasion, but this was different; his face was contorted in utter shock and terror. Horus looked down at the monster than he had just pummeled to death, realizing that most of his scales had been torn away, revealing the metal plating underneath.

"Gator..." Horus said softly, reaching out toward the dragon who was kissing him mere moments ago, only to have the mudwing back away from him, terrified. He wanted to say something comforting, so say something charismatic, to be June again; but it was too late to hide under that mask now.

"What in Pyrrhia are you?" Gator murmured. The words grabbed at Horus's heart and made him want to cry. What do you mean? He wanted to scream. I'm June, the dragon you love! He wanted to be mad at the mudwing, to roll his eyes and call him stupid or a mud cuddler, but he couldn't.

"I... I-I love you," Horus mumbled pitifully, the mudwing shaking his head in disbelief and stepping back more. Horus took a step toward his love but jumped back at the mudwing screamed. Gator turned and ran, screaming, begging for help. Horus whimpered, reaching out as if to catch the mudwing in his palm.

"I'm sorry," he almost whispered, before hurling himself out of the window and flying away as fast as his wings would carry him, transcending the speed of sound and yet still not going fast enough. He crashed into the side of a mountain, unable to keep flying, and cried. For the first time since Caliber, he bawled his eyes out all night, then through half of the day. His soul hurt. A cruel pain that wouldn't go away for a long time.

"Is your plan for me?" he mumbled to the sky. He suddenly stood and screamed at the heavens. "IS THAT WHAT THIS WAS ABOUT?! TEACHING ME MY PLACE?!"

Of course, there was no answer. But this only fueled his rage. This time, he didn't scream anything coherent, he just screamed. He screamed for several minutes before finally listening to the voice that told him to stop. His whole life, he had been taught to worship Cawthon, to praise him, for he has a good life planned out in front of you, even if you don't see it. But he questioned it. For the second time in his life, he questioned whether Cawthon's plan was really as pure as he thought. If that were true, then what was real anymore?

Was Horus even good?

He had dedicated his life to helping others, to help to finish a war that had caused so much pain. But at the same time, the darkness that was fueling his enemy's power also stained his soul with selfishness, greed, violence. He thought back to how it had felt to crush that Nightmare's skull. Had Horus been smiling? The thought made the hybrid sick.

Inevitably, his mind drifted to Gator. The mudwing had made him feel like a dragon... Not the robotic monster he was now, but a real dragon... One who had grown up in this dimension, with friends, enemies, pain, pleasure, sorrow, joy, fun... And love. His mother would have been with him, loving him unconditionally with his father, whoever it would be in this alternate timeline. He would be blissfully unaware of the secret war that was happening in other dimensions; he would live... and it would be enough.