To Be Proud: A Story about Gay Pride

A Pinch of Then

~Kayna~

She just flew off. Without listening to any monster, Petite flew off the island. Many of the monsters were in a panic trying to figure out what to do next. Thwok and Bona were probably the worst cases there. Bona screamed Petite's name as Thwok cried against a rock.

Seeing and hearing the sheer chaos started to make my head spin. Everything swirled as screaming turned into roaring. The sky was turning red, and the air was stuffy. I sat down, unable to think straight. Before passing out, I saw Thwok and Bona running up to me and calling my name.

Earth Island. I could tell because of the way the ground violently responded to the air. Summersong was coming to a close since most of the banners were down. No, they were on fire. Wait, everything around me was on fire. Suddenly it was too hot, like some monster infected the air with hot fumes. Something happened, and I needed to find out what.

I saw a herd of monsters heading to the castle. Some of the monsters had tiki masks on, but I could tell who they were. Mammott and Furcorn and Reedling were all moving something away, but I couldn't really see what it was they were moving. It was screaming, I think, and thrashing.

Before I could get a good sense of what it was, the monsters threw it in the castle and locked the doors. My eyes widened, and I knew that I had to get out of there. Looking around, I saw the skyship with the orange balloon and green wings. I ran as fast as I could to the skyship and attempted to power it on. The monsters saw me and yelled at me, threatening me to head back.

Though I knew the skyship for years, it was like I was riding it for the first time. Looking over a book, I saw the words Bone Island etched onto a bone plate in between two pages. Everything was new to me, but I didn't know why. The monsters below tried to throw spears and missed, giving me enough time to get away from the island.

Recovering from the fright, I focused on the clear skies ahead. For some reason, I couldn't remember where Bone Island was much less any of the others. Suddenly, the skies in front of me turned black. I was unable to turn the skyship around as I heard my name being called from an unknown source.

      "...yna...Kayna....Kayna!"

I woke up with a startled look on my face. We were in the hotel, and Thwok was sitting by my side worried. Bona was by a desk looking at something on it, waiting for me to wake up. The calendar that was by the bed was now on the floor, its pages folded in on themselves.

      "I...what happened?"

      "You passed out," Bona said while writing something down. "Petite left, we both were discussing it, and you passed out."

      "How long was I out for?"

      "Two dahys," Thwok said with worry. I stared at him wide-eyed.

      "Two days!" He nodded as I looked down. "If I'm correct, we l-"

      "Leave tomorrow," Bona finished. I looked down in shame.

      "And Petite-"

      "They sent out a searching party yesterday." I sighed, not believing what I was hearing.

      "I'm so sorry about this."

      "Why sould you e? It's noht your faulht."

      "Yeah," Bona chimed in, "you don't need to be sorry." I smiled lightly.

      "Well, I might start up the skyship."

      "Ohkay, Kayna!"

Getting off the bed, I left the hotel and looked around Plant Island. Everyone was a bit calmer, but I could sense the sorrow from them. I made my way to the skyship, watching the other monsters as they talked amongst themselves. The sorrow made me feel sad as well as a bit nauseous.

The shadow of something overhead caught my attention. Looking up, the first thing I saw was the bright plumes of fire as a tail. It was large and warm-colored, with its feathers all changing from red to yellow. In its talons was a small and curled blue figure with bat wings and bat ears.

      "Thwok! Bona!" I hollered as I ran back to the hotel. "Come out here quick!"

~Bona~

      "Come out here quick!"

Unsure of what was going on, I went outside with Thwok behind me. I saw Kayna running fast towards us full sprint and pointing up in the air. Thwok looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded as I looked up with him. In the air was a bird, and in the bird's talons was...

      "Puhtite!" Thwok shouted behind me. I stared up in shock as Thwok ran to Kayna and waved his arms around.

      "Glowl!" Kayna hollered. "Glowl down here!" The bird looked down at Kayna, then became a soaring meteor towards her.

When I got over, Kayna was holding Petite in her arms. She was curled up and shivering, the wings of her costume covering her frail body. Thwok looked at me with worry as Kayna glowed brightly to warm Petite up. The bird talked with Kayna about the issue with a light, gentle voice.

      "Where was she?"

      "I saw her drifting away from Cold Island on an iceberg. 72 knots south from here, 107 knots northwest from Cold Island. Based on her heartrate, I reckon she was there for hours."

      "But she flew north. How-"

      "Probably not a good navigator. Went in a semicircle along the way, I bet."

      "Thank you so much, Glowl."

      "Anytime. See you on, what. Air Island?"

      "Yep. See you then!"

As Glowl flew off, we all went back into the hotel. Petite was asleep in Kayna's arms, Thwok sat back in his little chair, and I rested back at the desk with the island history book still open on Celestial Island after landing. I sighed as I reread the many entries on the landing and what happened after.

      "Do you think she'll e ohkay?"

      "I don't know." Kayna shivered a bit in the corner of my eye. "It must be terrible to be alone like that." My eyes widened as a cold, wicked, vile idea popped into my head. I might've gotten my answer to a more recent question.