Peace and its Shadow

Chapter 14: Flirtatious Performance

Peacemaker and Mink had a last meal with Winter before flying off back to Jade Mountain Academy. Mink ran up to Winter and wrapped her wings around him with a big hug. Winter smiled,

"Wow, Mink, your hugs are quite strong. Hope you two have a safe flight back."

"Of course we will, nothing will stop us," Mink nodded, letting go of Winter. Mink ran out the door and took flight. Peacemaker followed suit. Before taking flight as well he heard Winter.

"Hey Peacemaker, I'm happy you're friends with Mink. Hope we can meet again," Winter grinned. Peacemaker nodded,

"Yeah, I hope so too. You're a cool older cousin for Mink." With that response, Winter laughed. Peacemaker finally followed Mink.

Luckily nothing bad had happened on the way, there was small talk between Mink and Peacemaker.

"So Peace, I always wondered this but why do you like strawberries so much?" Mink asked.

"Strawberries? Yeah I do, I guess it just was from me being in the rainforest around vegetarian Rainwings. I mean, how do you stand raw fish?" Peacemaker asked jokingly. Mink giggled,

"Yeah, I guess so, but I'm not madly obsessed with the sight of them." Peacemaker didn't respond to it since even he didn't know. It just felt natural to like it so much.

After a lot more flying, they eventually made it to Jade Mountain Academy. Peacemaker made a glance at his wings and himself to make sure his scales were hidden to be like a Nightwing. Mink noticed but didn't say anything.

"You're here!" bubbled a voice nearby, Peacemaker recognized as Bumblebee. Bumblebee jumped up and down towards Peacemaker and Mink before suddenly falling, knocking Peacemaker over.

"Hey, Bee," Peacemaker laughed. "Glad you're here. How's Dusk?"

"He's doing great, though it was a little lonely according to him without you or Cliff," Bumblebee answered. "Should I go get him?" Peacemaker noticed a purple dragon in a dark corner. Was that Dusk just waiting? Peacemaker was a bit unnerved thinking of the Rainwings he sometimes found watching.

"Sure, curious how he is," Peacemaker responded.

"I'm doing fine, though it's nice seeing you again," Dusky emerged from the shadows.

"Woah, I didn't even know that you were there," Mink commented, impressed.

"Yeah, I guess I was always good at being quiet...and being in the dark though it does kind of unsettle me," Dusky explained. "Sometimes you don't know what's in the dark." Peacemaker felt a little odd about the last part however he did relate to it. He thought about the cave to the volcano, something about that cave felt off.

...

Peacemaker was three years old. He, Clearblade, Berrybush, and a young Nightwing named Clawslasher were playing and hopping along each tree. Giggles and laughs echoed throughout the rainforest as the group went farther away from the main Rainwing village.

"Peace! Look at me!" Clearblade yelled gliding from tree to tree.

"Yeah, I see that! That's cool Blade!" Peacemaker smiled back. Clearblade landed next to Peacemaker and playfully whacked him in the head.

"Hey! Was that for?" Peacemaker asked.

"I thought I told you to stop using a nickname on me?" Clearblade said. "Is saying my name fully that hard?"

"Well in my defense, long names can be quite annoying and sometimes difficult to say," Peacemaker protected.

"You say Kinkajou's name just fine," Clawslasher reminded. Peacemaker did a stern glare at Clawslasher causing him to stop talking.