Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Chapter Twenty-Two

"No, no. NO NO!" Lighstreak cried. "Sunbeam!"

"Sunbeam!" Rainbow whispered weakly, tears pouring out of her face. Sunbeam's lifeless body didn't respond.

"I'll--I'll use my power to bring her back." Stuttered Lightstreak faintly.

"No, you can't or it will reverse everything and you'll die for nothing." Rainbow sniffed. She gazed at Lightstreak's sorrowful eyes.

"She didn't die for nothing." Rainbow tried. Weakly Lightstreak nodded and closed Sunbeam's eyes.

...

Hours passed and Rainbow and Lightstreak finally left Sunbeam. They didn't feel like it was right to bury her in Pantala but they couldn't bury her in the clouds. Usually if a CloudWing died it was of old age and they would disappear. But Sunbeam didn't because it wasn't in the CloudWing territory.

"We should fly back to Pyrriah to see what happened over there. It seems like Pantala has been restored." Suggested Rainbow. Lightstreak nodded, not saying anything. They only took off at the shores of Pantala, glancing back one last time at their dear friend, Sunbeam.

...

Moonwatcher opened her eyes only to discover she was on the jungle floor of the Rainforest. Kinkajou was next to her, sleeping or knocked out still. Weakly, she sat up, not wanting to wake Kinkajou after seeing that she was alright. She needed the sleep. Moon entered into the center of the RainWing village only to see that RainWings were merrily swinging through vines or laughing happily or stuffing their mouths with plump, juicy fruits. NightWings walked next to each other, exchanging polite conversations and gratefully eating freshly caught meals and sipping clean water.

Her mind was fuzzy but the memories soon came back. Everything soon came back in an instant. Turtle's death, being stuck in a cave then it all of a sudden collapsing down on Moon and everyone else. Then, Moonwatcher blacked out and woke up here.

What had happened? Moon needed answers. She flew to Queen Glory's hut and pushed past mumbling RainWings and NightWings. Their questions could wait.

"Moon, what did we talk about pushing past all of these dragons only because you have an important question?" Glory sighed.

"I'm sorry, Glory but...surely you remember what happened? Don't you?"

"Remember what?" Asked Glory, confused.

"What do you mean?!" Moon suddenly burst but immediately calmed herself. "Umm...nevermind...." She quieted her tone.

"You can tell me, Moon. Is it another prophecy?"

"No...not exactly. I have to go." Moon whisked away before Glory or Deathbringer could stop her. What was happening? How did no one remember? Did Kinkajou remember? Qibli? What about Treeleaf? Where was he? Or did...Winter know about all of what happened? A dreaded feeling gutted Moon but she shook it away and knew that she had to figure out what was happening. And where was everyone else? Where was Sunbeam?

...

Qibli gasped awake. Rubbing his head, Qibli moaned and mumbled and sat up on...a bed. Where was he? The blurriness cleared from his vision. What?! He was in the SandWing palace? How? What happened?

Qibli's mind raced with thousands of questions that he couldn't answer. All he remembered was fighting thousands of lifeless, mind-controlled dragons then blacking out.

Queen Thorn! Where was she? Qibli shot up from his bed and burst through the doors of his room. He scrambled and hobbled as fast as his sore legs would carry him until he entered the throne room where Queen Thorn was signing to Cactus.

"Queen Thorn! Cactus! Are you alright?!" Qibli heaved. Turning to face Qibli, Thorn put on a worried expression.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because of you know...what happened?"

"I'm confused." Thorn scrunched up her snout.

"I--I..." Qibli stopped himself. "Alright, just checking to make sure. I um...need to go do something."

Before he was told otherwise, Qibli bolted out of the room and skidded out of the palace, seeing that everything was intact and normal and nice. Qibli was not going crazy. And the only dragon who would believe him was Moonwatcher.

...

Three Days Later

"Ok, we have Moon, Kinkajou, Treeleaf, Queen Glory and Queen Thorn and me." Said Qibli. "We don't know where Sunbeam is and...Winter can't be apart of the group this time...though I hate to say it."

"You're forgetting a very important player." Said a voice.

Everyone turned around and stared at the dragon behind them in the deep, dense forest. All of their mouths dropped.

"TURTLE?!" Kinkajou and Qibli and Moon shrieked all at the same time. Treeleaf had an awestruck face but the two queens were straight up confused.

"Miss me?" Teased Turtle.

"H-how?" Moon breathed.

"I don't know.... I just...woke up. And now I'm here." He smiled and embraced with his friends.

"Were you...gone?" Thorn asked.

"This is why you're here, so we can tell you what happened." Qibli released from the hug and turned around to Thorn and Glory.

Qibli and Moon explained everything from the beginning.

"Though, I don't know why...you don't remember anything." Moon scrunched up her snout. "And why isn't Sunbeam here?"

"Well," started Qibli, "I woke up in the SandWing kingdom and Moon, Kinkajou and Treeleaf woke up in the rainforest." He turned to Turtle and as though he read Qibli's mind Turtle said, "and I woke up in the SeaWing Palace."

"So, Sunbeam must've woken up in the clouds...in her home or something." Explained Qibli.

"How will she know to come here?" Asked Kinkajou.

"I don't know. I hope she'll just...know where to go." Qibli said.

"She'll come." Moon said confidently.

She didn't come. It was an hour later.

"Where could Sunbeam be?" Kinkajou started to pace.

"She's not coming." A new voice spoke. Everyone turned around only to see two new CloudWings.

"Whoa..." both of the queens gasped, "those are CloudWings?"

"Yes. I'm Lightstreak and this is Rainbow. We are—were really close friends with Sunbeam."

Treeleaf eyed Lightstreak. 

"Sunbeam...she's...she's gone." Lightstreak whispered faintly. 

"WHAT?" Everybody gasped. 

"No, no, NO." Treeleaf barked.

"She died saving us and restoring everything. All of the Pantalian dragons are back in the hives or wherever they were and everything is...back to normal. The evil is gone." Explained Rainbow with drooping eyes and sagging wings.

Nobody said anything. They all just dwelled on the shock of the news they just heard. Sunbeam was gone...and there was nothing anybody could do about it.