Wings of Fire - Bird of a Different Colour

Chapter 1: Finally Gone

A/N: I don't own the picture at all, the dragon above is Ocelot

"OCELOT!" Boomed an angry voice. When father was in a bad mood, Ocelot took the blame. She sighed and walked into the living room. As soon as she stepped in, talons scraped against her side and she was thrown into the wall. Ocelot glanced down at her white scales, and shook the tears out of her eyes. She trembled, shaking her head. The 'living room' was a dimly lit cave, with a small rock ledge for sitting on in the middle, and a skin rug. Three torches were all that covered the five walls of the cave, and father graciously decided to throw her at one. She felt a burning pain on the top of her neck. Ocelot groaned softly, then stood up. "Y-yes, fat-ther?" She stammered. Ocelots's scales turned a pale green, and she forced them back to their usual look. Ocelot felt a sharp, stinging pain in her side from her father's claws slicing her, and throwing her against the wall. Her father was red and orange, as usual. But to her surprise, there were spots of pink and yellow in his scales, and he smiled wickedly. "They opened a school, Jade Mountain Academy. I finally have an excuse to get rid of you."

Ten minutes later, Ocelot was flying. The scratch on her side ached painfully, and the burn on the top of her neck sizzled hotly, but she tried to ignore it. She had a bag over her back with scrolls and pencils. Ocelot only knew one dragon in life, and that was her father. Ocelot did a little flip in the air at the thought of leaving her father. She had scars all over her body, telling the tales of her wonderful days with her father. Ocelot planned on telling people they were from falling when learning to fly, if she was asked about it. Which she wouldn't be. She was useless, ordinary, to be at fault for her mother's death, as her father didn't hesitate to tell her, every day. Ocelot blinked her, her sharp, silver eyes catching sight of the mountain to her right. She swerved quickly, and flapped harder to speed up. Ocelot soared down, landing. There were dragons everywhere, as soon as she landed she was swept into the crowd. There were loud voices and laughing coming from everywhere at once, dragons surrounding her from all directions, pushing against her. She couldn't spread her wings, couldn't move her own body. She was trapped. Ocelot felt tears come to her eyes, whirling around in circles, her eyes wide.

--==Winter's POV==--

Winter carried Bandit's cage along, glaring and growling at anyone who looked at his scavenger like he would be a tasty meal. He was about to push through the crowd to get to the front entrance, when something odd caught his eye. A RainWing, her scales a pale green, and a touch of white on the top of her neck and side, where a bleeding line of scratched from dragon talons dripped blood. Her eyes were wide, and she was spinning around. She looked like she was having a panic attack. What the heck is up with her?  Winter thought. Should he do something? Well.. better make a good first impression. He stalked through the crowd toward her.

--==Back to Ocelot's POV==--

She felt panic strike her heart. Ocelot hated being closed in. It made her antsy. She almost just shot her venom at everyone, when cold talons gripped her arm and dragged her out of the crowd. Ocelot yelped at the cold, trying to twist her neck to see who grabbed her. She saw her tail turning an even paler green. She felt the warm tears dripping down her cheeks, and shook her head. There's no room for weakness. Only strength, as said by father after a particularly bad beating one day. She had broken into tears, and earned herself a ripped wing that took a week to heal, and that quote. Ocelot was twisted, and came face to face with a handsome IceWing, who looked disappointed with himself for helping her. Ocelot was quite good at reading very specific emotions. "Are you okay?" He asked gruffly. Ocelot nodded, too scared to speak. He raised an eye-ridge. "What's your name, RainWing?" He demanded. Ocelot was silent for a moment, before whispering her name. "Speak up!" He growled. "O-ocelot!" She squeaked pathetically. The IceWing nodded. "Winter." He said abrubtly. "Well, bye." Winter muttered, then left. "W-wait!" She yelped. Winter turned and looked at her. "What?" He demanded. "I-is that a scavenger-r?" She stammered. Winter frowned, looking confused. "Yes. Why?" Ocelot gulped. "I-I've read about them in scr-scrolls... I like them. I-is it your pe-pet?" She hated her stuttering, but she couldn't help it. She focused on turning back into her usual colours. A sandy tail, legs, neck and wings with a blue underside and blue spots along her neck. Winter looked slightly impressed, slightly annoyed, and slightly confused. "Yeess.." He said suspiciously. "I-I w-was wondering i-if you studied him?" She said, calming down. Winter nodded. "I'm going to." Ocelot scratched her left leg. "C-could I help y-you?" She asked nervously. Winter looked surprised and caught off guard. "S-sure." He stammered, then quickly left. Ocelot blinked. What did I just sign up for?

Ocelot had cleverly disguised herself as the SkyWing monster, Peril, to get through. Went she walked up to the NightWing in the middle, with a wide circle of nothing but air around her. The NightWing yelped. "Peril?!" She cried. Ocelot shook her head, turning her scales back to their usual design. Almost everyone around her except the NightWing sighed in relief. Ocelot was shaking. She was so scared, and it took all her energy to make sure her scales stay the same. The NightWing seemed to be pitying her as she said, "I'm Fatespeaker. What's your name?" Ocelot gulped. "O-Ocelot.." She mumbled. Fatespeaker leaned forward, listening. "Sorry, what was that?" Ocelot took a deep breath, and calmed herself. "Oce-Ocelot." Ugh, STILL a stammer in her words."Did you say Ocelot?" Asked Fatespeaker, eyeing her scratch and burn nervously, and Ocelot nodded. "Alright, cave fifty one, clawmates with... Qibli and Winter.. and you're in the Silver Winglet!"

A/N: I couldn't think of ANYONE ELSE okay? Just chill with it. COUGH IceWing pun COUGH. Don't sass at me in the comments, that there will be none of.

Ocelot nodded. "Thanks.." She whispered, walking down the hallway that said "51 to 60". It was the first cave on her left. She poked her head in, and saw no one was in there. She nervously took the hammock, lying on her side, facing the wall, making sure she stayed off the side her scratch was, and she slowly drifted to sleep.

Ocelot woke up a few minutes later, still alone. No one had shown up yet. So she began reading the 'Dragonets' Story'. She'd just gotten to the part about Glory's challenge for the RainWing queenship, when a SandWing walked in and stared at her in surprise. She pretending not to notice him. Ocelot knew what he was thinking. 'Why is a RainWing reading? RainWings don't read.' Truth be told, when living with her dad all she could do was get either beat up for killing mum, or read, and one of those sounded more appealing. So she had taught herself to read and write. Ocelot kept reading. When Glory challenged the queen of the RainWings at the time, they decided on a competition of skill. Glory's team consisted of Jambu, Mangrove, Kinkajou, Tamarin, and herself. The opposite team had Exquisite, Grandeur, Fruit Bat, Magnificent, and Dazzling. They only won due to Grandeur accidentally hitting Kinkajou with venom, and forfeiting. Thi- "Winter! Took your time!" Said the SandWing - who she suspected was Qibli - loudly. Ocelot lifted her head quickly and flared her ruff in suprise, hearing the squeak of a scavenger. She whipped her head around, causing Qibli to jump. She flicked her forked tounge, and leapt down from her hammock. She walked up to Winter, and stared him in the eye.

--==Winter's POV==--

Winter forced himself not to swallow. Ocelot's calculating silver eyes stared into his dark blue ones. They stood there for a moment, with a confused Qibli watching, before Winter broke the silence. "Erm.. hi Ocelot." The RainWing had her usual scale colour, and she nodded. "Hi.." She whispered. Then walked back to her hammock and went back to reading her scroll. Winter blinked. That was weird.. but what was weirder was that he liked it a little. Ocelot staring at him, seemingly studying his every move. He shook his head gently. This was no way for an IceWing prince to feel or think.               

                                                          But he still was.                                                                                                                                                                      

A/N: I know. Shipping OCs with canon characters. HOW DARE I. Truth be told, I used to support the Winterjou ship, (I don't anymore). However, I do think that Winter the strong and handsome IceWing who despises other tribes and thinks that RainWings are stupid and lazy, and can't do much then falling in love with one. MY STORY. YOU NO CHOOSE.